Harvin tweets he'll need surgery

Percy Harvin will have hip surgery on Thursday, sidelining the dynamic wide receiver for the start of his first season with the Seattle Seahawks.

Harvin made the announcement on his Twitter account on Tuesday night, hours after getting a second opinion on the injury in New York. The Seahawks then said the operation was scheduled for Thursday.

Harvin was seeking more information for soreness in his hip, in the area of his labrum, that popped up just before the Seahawks opened training camp.

Seattle coach Pete Carroll has not indicated which hip is bothering Harvin. He said earlier in the day that the team was still gathering information about Harvin's second opinion.

Harvin started training camp on the physically unable to perform list and likely will remain there until the team has a better idea of his recovery time. If Harvin starts the season on the PUP list he must miss the first six weeks and would have to return to practice by the end of Week 11 to avoid missing the entire season.

The loss of Harvin is significant, but not a huge setback for a team that relies on the legs of Marshawn Lynch and timely passing by Russell Wilson to drive its offense. Seattle invested significantly in Harvin, giving up draft picks to acquire him from Minnesota and signing him to a six-year deal reportedly worth up to $67 million.

But Seattle's offense averaged 32.9 points over the final nine games of last season without Harvin.

If the Seahawks need a timeline of how the recovery might go, they only need to look at fellow Seattle receiver Sidney Rice, who underwent hip surgery in August 2010, and then returned to action in Week 11 after missing the first 2 months of the season.