Percy Harvin tells Buffalo Bills he's retiring

Wide receiver Percy Harvin has informed the Buffalo Bills that he intends to retire, according to an ESPN report.

Harvin, 27, caught 19 passes for 218 yards last season before being shut down due to hip and knee injuries. He has played for three teams since the start of the 2014 season and has played in more than nine games just once since posting career highs of 87 catches for 967 yards and six touchdowns for the Minnesota Vikings in 2011 - and that came in a 2014 season split between Seattle (five games and the New York Jets (eight).

Thursday's report still comes as a surprise, with Bills general manager Doug Whaley saying last month that he was informed Harvin did want to play in 2016. Harvin signed a three-year deal last March that included nearly $6 million in guaranteed money, but the final two years of the contract were voided shortly after Super Bowl 50 to reduce his salary cap number.

The well-traveled Harvin was a first-round pick of the Vikings in 2009.

The Seahawks traded three draft picks -- selections in the first, third and seventh rounds -- for Harvin and gave him a six-year, $67 million deal in 2013. Before he was ever on the field, Harvin needed hip surgery. Other than a memorable Super Bowl performance in the win over the Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium in which he returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown, Harvin will be remembered more for the reasons it didn't work in Seattle. That included alleged fistfights with teammates.

The Seahawks traded him to the Jets in the middle of the 2014 season. After part of a season there, Harvin joined coach Rex Ryan and receivers coach Sanjay Lal in the move up to Buffalo and played in just five games with 19 receptions for 218 yards but again caused concern away from the field -- including choosing not to join the team for a regular-season game in London.

Since leaving Minnesota via trade after the 2012 season, Harvin has 71 receptions and two touchdowns.