Harry the Hitman is back.
Harrison Smith is staying in Minnesota.
The safety has agreed terms on a one-year deal that will see him spend a 14th season in the Purple and Gold. At 36 years old there is every chance that this will be his final season. Then again we have been saying that for a while now!
Selected out of Notre Dame in the first round of the 2012 draft, Smith became an immediate starter and he has not looked back since. If he plays in at least eight match-ups this season he will push past 200 career games, a remarkable feat for any player.
There are a whole generation of Vikings fans – myself included – who have grown up watching Smith and can not imagine what the team will look like without him.
My own first experience of the Vikings was a promotional video with the Yorkshire Vikings cricket team in 2013. Smith, Kyle Rudolph and John Sullivan came over to promote the Vikings ahead of a trip to London later in the year.
If ever there was a player who fully embodied Minnesota it is Smith. It is unlikely you will see him on the front page, or in an advert for insurance or cars. He quietly gets on with his job.
The respect he is given by his teammates and coaches shows how much he is valued by every member of the organisation. After 13 years at the highest level he deserves all the plaudits that come his way.
Future Hall of Famer?
Longevity and endurance are not the only things Smith brings to the table however.
While it is true his powers have waned slightly, he is still performing at an incredibly high level. During the 2024 season he managed three interceptions, 87 tackles and a fumble recovery.
In the Week 5 London match-up with the New York Jets he recorded his only sack of the season. Old foe Aaron Rodgers was taken down with the brutal efficiency we have come to rely on from the man known as “the Hitman”.
When you look at the larger body of work and take in the whole career of Smith, some of the statistics are mind blowing.
He leads all current active players in interceptions with 37. His 20.5 career sacks are something that most defensive backs will never get close to. Troy Polamalu is held up as the benchmark of what a safety should be and was rightly inducted into the Hall of Fame.
When you compare the careers of Polamalu and Smith there is almost nothing separating them. If anything, based on statistics Smith comes out slightly ahead, with five more interceptions and eight more sacks. Polamalu was named to more Pro Bowls, with eight compared to Smith’s six.
There is one big difference though, Polamalu is a two time Super Bowl champion. If somehow the Vikings can get over the seemingly cursed hump and bring the trophy to Minnesota, there is no one I will be happier for than Harrison Smith.
An elite career deserves a fairy tale ending, at the very least we can dream.
