Orchard Park, N.Y. — Percy Harvin has a reputation. Right or wrong, the dynamic wide receiver the Buffalo Bills signed this offseason is considered to be a player that is tough to work with.

It's tough to tell when it started. Harvin's NFL career began with him testing positive for marijuana at the 2009 NFL Scouting Combine. He then reportedly had a tough time getting along with coach Leslie Frazier in Minnesota and complained about Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder. All of that leaked after the Vikings traded him to the Seahawks, who dealt him to the Jets 19 months later. Reports then surfaced that Harvin was a problem in Seattle's locker room and had gotten in a fight with wide receiver Doug Baldwin.

That's a lot of baggage for a player some have accused of being no more than a "gadget" player for an NFL offense. The Jets saw something different. When he arrived in New York, Rex Ryan and Sanjay Lal, who both now coach for the Bills, gave Harvin something nobody else would.

"We started fresh," Lal said at Bills offseason conditioning Tuesday. "We didn't listen to what the reputation was or what the media portrayed to be or any of that, because you don't know what actually happened."

Lal didn't think people were telling the full story of Harvin. The wide receivers coach had a similar case when he got to Oakland in 2007 and then-Raiders wide receiver Jerry Porter was coming off suspension.

"He was supposed to be the worst guy ever," Lal recalls. "I loved coaching him. To this day, he and I are really good friends. That one eight years ago showed me you can't believe anything anyone says. Different people's personalties don't mesh. There might be some other issues that I don't know about. I don't care. It's me and him and how can we ascend to great heights together?"

It's easy to see why Lal and Harvin get along so well. Lal respects Harvin. He's patient and understanding, two traits the oft-misunderstood Harvin hasn't dealt with much in his NFL career. At a time in his career when everyone said Harvin wasn't worth the trouble, Lal didn't judge him.

"Rex always says we hold everyone in the highest regard of respect until they show it's not warranted," Lal said. "If you treat people that way, I just think they see it and they know it's genuine."

"I don't know if (his reputation) digs at him. I mean, no one wants to hear negative things about themselves, so I'm sure he's not happy about it. But he knows what's real, and then the people in the know, they also know."

When the Jets acquired Harvin, Lal received texts from coaching friends and former players telling him nothing but good things about his newest receiver.

"The people I trust, they said good things," Lal said. "The people I don't know, they painted this picture. Maybe that's true for them, but it's not been my experience."

Ryan has developed a reputation as a coach that is willing to bring in players who haven't meshed in other locker rooms or have gotten in trouble off the field. Harvin isn't the only example of this in Buffalo. Ryan led the way on the Bills signing guard Richie Incognito, who was at the center of the Dolphins' bullying scandal, and added a few players with trouble off the field in the 2015 NFL Draft.

"He's going to be 100 percent real with you," Harvin said of Ryan when he arrived in Buffalo. "You may not like it, but it's going to be what he thinks, what he thinks is best for the team."

Ryan's willingness to go against the grain has paid off in the past. In 2014, not only did he bring in Harvin when most teams didn't want to touch him, but the Jets also helped break another preconceived notion about the former first-round pick.

When he came into the league, Harvin was viewed as a "gadget" player. He often lined up in the slot, took handoffs and caught mostly short passes. Coaches just wanted to get the ball in his hands as quickly as possible and let him do damage after the catch. Once again, Lal saw something different.

For the first time in his career, Harvin was a true "flanker." His route tree expanded from screens and drags to corners and posts as his snaps on the outside increased dramatically. Lal doesn't think the idea was all that creative, either. He saw a receiver who had all of the physical tools and shouldn't be limited to playing in the slot.

"That's the attitude we took," Lal said. "Obviously there's things to refine, but he's picking everything up. He's not there yet, but he will be. We just looked at it as, why shouldn't he? Why not?"

When Harvin arrived in New York, Lal spent extra time with him to get him up to speed on the playbook. As long as Harvin was willing to put in the work, Lal was there to help him along.

"That's another reason why I fell in love with Sanjay," Harvin said. "His ability to get me to process that so quickly. It was only the second or third game, and I felt like I had been playing outside for years."

In his second game with the Jets, Harvin caught 11 passes for 129 yards against the Chiefs. He also caught six passes for 124 yards and a touchdown a few weeks later against Minnesota. Harvin's production was still inconsistent, but he flashed the ability to play outside, and there's still room to grow.

"He's told me that some of the technique things we've worked on he hasn't been coached yet," Lal said. "Most of his career, it's been, 'You're the best athlete on the field, just go do your thing.' Well if you can take that, channel it and give the person great technique, now he's even more unstoppable."

Pay no attention to his reputation and show enough faith in him to not put a limit on his role, and Harvin becomes a different player on the field and different person off the field.

"I just ask people to judge me off of what they see, which is what I did in New York," Harvin said. "Which is why you heard nothing."

Maybe Lal and Ryan were just the right coaches at just the right time. The Bills obviously have a different view of Harvin then everyone at his previous stops. Harvin showed his appreciation by making the Bills his only free-agent visit before signing. The more you hear Lal and Harvin talk, the more sense it makes that Harvin is a Bill. He's never found a fit quite like this one.

"It was just a no brainer for me," Harvin said.