The long wait is over for Percy Harvin

After being on the physically-unable-to-perform list since Aug. 27 following hip surgery, receiver/returner/runner Percy Harvin returned to the Seahawks on Monday.

A recap of the activities at Virginia Mason Athletic Center for Oct. 21, when the players had an “off” day while the coaches were putting together the game plan for next Monday night’s game against the Rams in St. Louis:

WORD OF THE DAY: PERCY

As in Harvin. As in the Seahawks’ big acquisition this offseason. The versatile player who was acquired in a March 12 trade with the Minnesota Vikings had hip surgery during training camp and has been on the physically-unable-to-perform list since Aug. 27.

But that changed Monday, when Harvin rejoined the team and worked out with quarterback Russell Wilson on a day when the team did not practice.

Harvin now has a three-week window to practice with the team, and the team has a roster exemption for Harvin during that time.

Coach Pete Carroll offered this assessment of Harvin’s status following Thursday night’s game against the Cardinals in Arizona: “He’s a great football player. He’s a guy we cherish, when we went after him and all that. But our expectation is, like I said from the start, we’re going to fit him in. Fit him in to help this team in any way that he can, which is exactly what he wants to do. We’ll grow with him also. It won’t all come out the first time we get on the field. We’re not changing what we’re doing. We’re just going to try to fit him in and welcome him to be part of it when the time is right. I don’t know when that time is, honestly.”

But Monday was a needed next step for Harvin, who was a threat as a receiver, kickoff returner and runner for the Vikings.

“One of the best football players in the National Football League,” Wilson said when asked about Harvin after the game against the Cardinals. “Makes a lot of plays. Can do a lot of great things. When you have him on the field, he’s just so electric. And we haven’t even used him yet. So I just think about Percy Harvin, a guy who just loves the game of football, a guy that’s so competitive.

“When he does come back, whenever that is, we’re looking forward to that moment.”