Percy Harvin hints at early return from hip injury for Seahawks

Percy Harvin was expected to miss 3-4 months after hip surgery. He thinks he can return sooner. (Ted S. Warren/AP)

The initial prognosis for Seahawks wide receiver Percy Harvin, following his late-July hip surgery: three to four months of recovery and rehab, with Week 13 reportedly targeted as a return date.

But Harvin hinted on Twitter that the anticipated timetable may have to be altered:

Week 7 is when Harvin will be eligible to be removed from the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. The thought of him returning to action then has to be considered an extremely optimistic one, especially since coach Pete Carroll said just a couple weeks ago that he wasn't sure Harvin would play at all this year.

"It's going to take a good month before we will be able to figure out if he is even going to have a chance to come roaring back out of it," Carroll said in mid-August. "But the signs are very good and so we'll see what that means. We're not putting any number of weeks on him because we don't know."

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Getting Harvin back for the last few weeks of the regular season and the playoffs could provide a huge boost to the Seahawks. It at least would provide Seattle some return on the investment it made in Harvin this offseason -- three picks traded to Minnesota, plus a $67 million contract for the talented yet somewhat-fragile receiver.

The Seahawks do have their top six pass-catchers from a year ago, led by Sidney Rice and Golden Tate, available as the regular season kicks off. They also added undrafted rookie Stephen Williams, who turned in an impressive preseason.