Harrison Smith: the Next Domino to Fall?

Aloha, Skoloholics! The new season hasn’t even started yet, but the Minnesota Vikings front office is wasting zero time in making moves. The latest casualty could be safety Harrison Smith, according to Judd Zulgad.

Anyone who knows me or has read much of what I write knows that I am a huge Harrison Smith fan, so this makes me a bit sad. I am also encouraged by the fact that the front office is playing no favorites and is willing to do whatever it takes to try to bring a winner to Minnesota. The Vikings have already released Eric Kendricks and they released Adam Thielen earlier today. It sounds like Smith may be next long-time Viking to be let go.

History

Harrison Smith was a Vikings’ first round pick in 2012 (29th overall). This was the same draft where they took Matt Kalil 4th overall (Smith was a much better draft pick than Kalil). Since being drafted, Smith has been a star player, a great teammate, and has been consistent throughout his career. For several years, he was one of the best, if not the best, safety in the NFL.

The Present

Age is catching up with him, as he is now 34 years old. Smith’s contract was another poorly constructed contract by previous GM Rick Spielman, which was backloaded, and now puts the team and Smith in a position where it is hard for them to find common ground on a restructure. Smith’s cap hit in 2023 is set to exceed $19 million with nearly $12 million in dead money, info courtesy of Spotrac. The Vikings stand to gain just over $7.3 million in cap room by releasing Smith, or they could make the move with a post 6/1 designation and push $7.8 million of dead cap into 2024, which would give them $15.2 million in cap savings for 2023. Personally, if they’re going to make the move, I’d rather see them just bite the bullet & absorb the dead cap now so they can put it behind them.

The Future

Will Smith remain a Viking? It’s not sounding very likely. Man, we’re going to see a MUCH different Minnesota Vikings team in 2023. SKOL!