Will the Vikings bring him back?
Safety Harrison Smith is the longest-tenured member of the Minnesota Vikings, having been with the team since he was drafted in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft. While Smith is much closer to the end of his illustrious career than he is to the beginning, has that end already arrived?
According to Vikings inside Darren Wolfson (with a hat tip to the folks at Vikings Territory), it apparently has not.
“Smith can still play, and I don’t think the Vikings need to break the bank to bring him back. They can figure out the money. I get it. He’s had to take pay cuts the last couple years. So, to me, there’s interest in him playing at a reasonable number. I just think it makes all sorts of sense,” Wolfson said on SKOR North airwaves late last week.
Beyond the performance-based part of whether or not to bring Smith back lie the financials of the situation. As Ben Goessling of the Minnesota Star-Tribune points out, Smith has a vet minimum salary for 2025 of a little over $1.25 million. However, if he’s on the roster on the third day of this league year, which is 14 March, his salary of $25 million for 2026 becomes fully guaranteed.
Harrison Smith has been a great football player. Harrison Smith has been a great Minnesota Viking. The odds of the Minnesota Vikings giving Harrison Smith another $25 million are roughly the same as the odds that they’ll hand you or me $25 million.
(It’s not happening.)
As Wolfson pointed out in his interview, Smith has taken pay cuts in each of the last two seasons, both of which had rumors of retirement floating around before those deals were reached. While we don’t know for sure whether or not Smith is going to be back for a 14th season in Minnesota, we’ll probably have an answer to that question sooner rather than later as free agency kicks off two weeks from Tuesday.