Seahawks-Bills inactives: Percy Harvin set to make 2016 debut vs old team

The Seattle Seahawks and Buffalo Bills are just about to kickoff Monday Night Football for Week 9, and the Bills have a couple of very important players who will be active: LeSean McCoy (hamstring) who was out last week and Percy Harvin, who the team signed just six days ago.

Harvin retired earlier in 2016 but the Bills are desperate for skill players after losing receiver Sammy Watkins to a foot injury earlier in the season. Their leading receiver Robert Woods has just 290 yards in seven games. Number two receiver Marquise Goodwin has caught just 12 passes on 32 targets, a phenomenally-low 37.5%. It’s not clear how much Harvin will play, but in his last stint with Buffalo, he had just 218 yards in five games. In his last NFL game, Harvin caught 0 of 4 targets against the Tennessee Titans.

That was over a year ago.

On the Seahawks side of things, Michael Bennett, Kam Chancellor, Thomas Rawls, Bradley Sowell, Luke Willson, DeAndre Elliott, and Rees Odhiambo are all inactive. It’s a pretty long list of starters and important role players with the exception of Odhiambo. Seattle coaches do claim that quarterback Russell Wilson is running as good in practice as he did prior to their Week 1 game against the Miami Dolphins, when he suffered his first injury of the year. They will also have Jimmy Graham at their disposal.

The Bills will be without one very important player though: 2014 All-Pro defensive lineman Marcell Dareus, who was injured last week against the New England Patriots. That’s the only game Dareus has played in so far this year. They’ll also be without defensive tackle Corbin Bryant and receiver/returner Brandon Tate. This may mean an opportunity for Harvin to return kicks.

Of course, Harvin’s most famous play at the NFL level (probably?) came in Super Bowl 48 when he returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown as the Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos 43-8. That play really ended the Broncos hopes for a win that day, though it didn’t do much for Harvin’s future with the Seahawks. After returning seemingly healthy the following season, Harvin was ineffective and traded to the New York Jets after five games and just 133 receiving yards. It’s worth remembering that in 2012, Harvin was an MVP candidate with the Minnesota Vikings after gaining 1,347 all-purpose yards in essentially eight full games.

It’s also worth noting that much like the last presidential election, 2012 was four years ago.