Smith talked about his decision to return for another year and how it was influenced by his defensive coordinator
EAGAN — Harrison Smith was living his best dad life following the 2023 season. For the first few months of the offseason, he spent time with his family, including doing projects around his house with his brother. When he started to see free agency discussions and news on ESPN, he realized that it was probably time to tell the Minnesota Vikings whether he was coming back and get his agent working on restructuring his contract.
“I was completely living life like I wasn’t a football player,” Smith said. “It was a good weight off [my] mind to just reset and come back around to it and make a decision.”
Health wise Smith said he was feeling good, having survived playing over 1,000 snaps last season. But his physical status wasn’t entirely driving the decision. His connection with defensive coordinator Brian Flores also played a major role in his desire to run out onto the US Bank Stadium turf for a 13th season.
“Being around a personality like his, he’s very confident, he speaks my language,” Smith said. “He’s not a big rah-rah guy but he is very intense and he means what he says, things are very clear cut and schematically there are new things.”
“There’s a lot to be learned from him beyond football as well,” Smith continued. “As I’ve gotten a few more years under my belt, how to carry yourself as a man, as a husband and a father and how those things carry over to football. Being responsible, being accountable, helping others while you can.”
Smith noted that he learned things from Flores last year that he hadn’t done before during his career, which is fascinating considering how long Smith has been in the game. The All-Pro safety had his second highest number of QB pressures (12) in 2023, tied his highest sack mark (3.0), produced his second best yards per catch allowed (8.2 YPC) and played the most snaps in the box that he’s ever played before.
The dynamic of the team has his interest as well. While he alluded to the fact that the expectations in the win-loss column are not as high this year (most sportsbooks have them at over-under 6.5 wins) he was pleased with what he saw when seeing the new acquisitions on the field for the first time.
“Free agency comes piece by piece and I saw some things and liked the moves obviously but getting here in the building over the last couple weeks and seeing the bodies that we got, some guys up front, we’ll see what happens but I like it. I like what we got going on,” Smith said.
Over the last few seasons, Smith has settled into a mentor role with fellow safeties Josh Metellus and Cam Bynum both developing into quality players around him. He has enjoyed that part of his latter career as well.
“It’s been awesome,” Smith said. “When you have guys at similar positions that share the same idea of the game and desires to make plays… watching them grow together, it’s awesome to be around and keeps me trying to compete with them as well. It’s a nice dynamic that we got.”
At the owner’s meetings, head coach Kevin O’Connell mentioned his desire to get Smith a little more rest that he’s had over the past few seasons. That could potentially mean Byron Murphy Jr. moving into the slot and Metellus taking Smith’s role from time to time.
No matter how they work it out within Flores’ defense, Smith is ready to add another chapter to his potential Hall of Fame career.
“Still feel good, still feel like I can play at a high level,” he said.
