When the Seahawkstraded a trio of draft picks two seasons ago for Percy Harvin, the expectation was for the playmaking pass-catcher to help unleash Seattle's air attack.
Beyond his Super Bowl heroics, though, Harvin never panned out in the Pacific Northwest, catching just 23 passes over two seasons before the 'Hawks shipped him to the Jets.
Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell struggled to mesh Harvin into the weekly game plan, but Seattle's play-caller has no such concerns about featuring this offseason's big-name trade acquisition, Jimmy Graham.
"I think the cool part about Jimmy is we can just plug him in," said Bevell, per ESPN.com. "We really don't have to do anything special."
NFL Media's Steve Wyche noted this month that Seattle is practicing a new-look "jumbo" package at camp, with Graham at tight end and Super Bowl sizzler Chris Matthews seeing snaps at wideout alongside Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse. After struggling through the air in the red zone last season, the Seahawks have turned that weakness into a strength -- without recrafting the playbook.
"We can run the exact same routes that we've been running and just kind of plug him in," Bevell said. "So I don't think we are going to have to do anything just to target him to get him the ball. Obviously the quarterback knows where he is at all times, so more balls will probably be going in that direction. We're able just to fit him in."
Harvin's time in Seattle was stained by locker-room scuffles, injury and frustration over his playing time, with NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport noting last October that "getting (Harvin) involved in the game was something that was not always easy."
By comparison, Bevell has the ideal new weapon in Graham, a unique size-speed freak and a player who fills an immediate need in Seattle. That type of athlete is easy to feed the ball to, and we fully expect Graham to feast in 2015.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast breaks down what Geno Smith's injury means for the Jets and recaps the first Hard Knocks episode in Houston.
