Minnesota Vikings veteran safety Harrison Smith returned right before the 2026 NFL season. Smith is likely hoping he can be a key piece of a Vikings defense that pushes Minnesota into the playoffs and a potential deep run afterward.
It’s only three weeks into the season, but the Vikings defense is already looking like a Super Bowl contender. Moreover, Smith hasn’t hit the ground running to take that defense to another level.
Since Smith didn’t participate in OTAs, minicamp, training camp, or the preseason, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is easing him in as he’s played 86 snaps. Once Flores feels Smith is ready for more, expect that snap count to rise.
Nonetheless, one reason the Vikings defense could go up a notch when Smith gets more snaps is the mental aspect he brings, as former NFL QB Philip Rivers pointed out.
“You think of guys like Harrison Smith, I think he pops in my mind, who’s still playing,” Rivers told Daniel Jeremiah on an Oct. 1 video from “Moving the Sticks.” “It was unbelievable with the disguise stuff. He’s on the line of scrimmage, but he’s got the deep third, and he might blitz.
“What are you doing? Hurry up, the play clock’s down to 3, 2, 1. There I am clapping to get the ball, and you haven’t declared yet. So guys like that, that you knew were playing the game with you up here.”
Harrison Smith Plays the Mental Aspect With an Opposing QB
Moreover, Rivers didn’t stop there when it came to talking about Smith and how it’s a mental battle when facing him out on the field.
“I remember telling Harrison Smith one time, ‘Hey, they signaled something, and we checked something and threw it,'” Rivers added. “I gave him the signal back, like in between plays, and I was like, ‘You don’t think we know that?’
“He signaled me something back that we had a ‘You don’t think we know that?’ And so those are the game within the game. Those little things that happen are the things you miss, too, and the things that you remember.”
Josh Metellus on Having Harrison Smith Back This Season
Meanwhile, on Oct. 1, Vikings’ Josh Metellus spoke with the media and shared his thoughts on having Smith back by his side in the secondary, noting that the integration of everyone on the defense is trending positively.
“We had a specific way we did things, and now, with Harry being back, we’re trying to integrate all of us and what we do well,” Metellus told reporters. “I think it’s been really good just to have those minds collaborate and be able to trust certain guys in different aspects of the field, to be able to get us into a specific call, a look, or whatever you want to do.
“I would say, being that we added Harry back, it’s definitely grown, something that [Flores] trusts us a lot more, especially with a guy like Harry on the field, to do more of that kind of stuff.”
Vikings’ Harrison Smith Gets Strong Words From Philip Rivers