Vikings Will Need the Harrison Smith Decision Rather Soon
It stands to reason that this would be the final season of Harrison Smith’s career. The safety has done all the work to earn Pro Bowl consideration in a few years, and it’s hard to imagine him continuing this grind. Although he has yet to put finality on his impending retirement, that would seem to be the expectation.
Vikings Will Need the Harrison Smith Decision Rather Soon
The loss of Harrison Smith means the Minnesota Vikings have a hole to fill. They won’t know what to do until he makes his decision. The franchise should be able to push for that answer without being overly invasive to his process.
Smith’s potential retirement comes alongside the free agency of veteran Cam Bynum. The fan favorite has become well known throughout the league for his celebrations this season, but they are a byproduct of solid play and impact on defense. He certainly would love to remain in Minnesota and carry on the torch for Smith, but money will talk.
It remains to be seen what sort of a market there will be for Bynum’s services. He probably won’t be at the top end of the safety group, but he isn’t going to come cheap, either. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah must weigh a desire to bring back Bynum both through the lens of Smith being there and him not.
The Vikings helped develop Bynum into the player he is today, and that has also happened with safety Josh Mettellus. However, Putting Mettellus in traditional safety looks would seem to be a waste of his abilities. He can impact the opposition by playing all over the defensive side of the field. The Vikings would be better suited having a pair of traditional safeties at the back of the secondary.
Adofo-Mensah can attack the free agent market aggressively. Minnesota has a substantial amount of cap space to work with, and they’ll need to use that wisely when filling holes across the board. If they want to use a considerable amount to stick with Bynum, so be it.
They have to have multiple plans, though, and most of them can’t consider what Smith may or may not do.
Ted Schwerzler is a blogger from the Twin Cities that is focused on all things Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings. He’s active on Twitter and writes daily for Minnesota Sports Fan. As a former college athlete and avid sports fan, covering our pro teams with a passion has always seemed like such a natural outlet.
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