The Harrison Smith Mystery Deepens for Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings’ regular season begins in one week, and the team’s fans don’t have concrete answers on long-time safety Harrison Smith.
Harrison Smith remains sidelined as questions swirl around the Vikings captain’s status. His absence continues to fuel speculation before Week 1.
Smith opted not to retire this offseason, renewing his NFL subscription for Year No. 14 and guaranteeing himself one ride to cross paths with second-year passer J.J. McCarthy.
But as a meeting with the Chicago Bears looms, folks simply don’t know what to think about Smith’s Week 1 status.
Harrison Smith Situation Still Raising Eyebrows
Smith, 36, remains an integral part of Minnesota’s defense.
Personal Health Matter Sidelines Harrison Smith
Smith hasn’t practiced since August 11th, a lengthy drought for any player, but especially one whose resume is fairly dependable from an injury standpoint.
Star Tribune‘s Ben Goessling tweeted last week, “Vikings safety Harrison Smith, who’s been out since Aug. 11, has been recovering from a personal health matter, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. He’ll be evaluated weekly, but he remains on the active roster.”
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell rests starters in the preseason anyway, for the most part, and it’s worth noting that Smith didn’t play in those contests either.
Odd Verbiage
Some onlookers suggested Smith’s absence could be mental-health related. Goessling was quick to shoot that down, indicating that Smith’s personal matter is not a matter of mental health.
If it’s not something that would be announced by the team, such as a “normal” injury, that would rule out hamstrings, ankles, concussions, etc. There’s also the fact that Smith was not placed on injured reserve or the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
A “personal health matter” could point to a condition, rather than a game-related injury, especially if it’s not mental health.
VikingsTerritory asked two sources about Smith’s Week 1 availability, and both hinted that the veteran safety would be ready to go.
One Week before Showtime
If Smith’s situation were grim, he would’ve been placed on IR, and that would’ve been that.
With one week before his team travels to Chicago for a date with the Bears, all eyes will turn to this week’s injury reports for a verdict. What fans do not want to see is a “Doubtful” or “Out” status. The injury report will be the first prompt of clarity since last week’s tweets about Smith’s personal health matter. Those should arrive on Thursday.
The Safety Depth, Just in Case
The Vikings won’t have Camryn Bynum for insurance anymore. He signed with the Indianapolis Colts in March and isn’t coming back. In return, Minnesota promoted reserve safety Theo Jackson to a more prominent role, and if Smith, in theory, couldn’t play on Monday Night Football, Jackson would start.
The club also signed free-agent safety K’Von Wallace last week.
Here’s the full safety group at the moment:
- Harrison Smith
- Josh Metellus
- Theo Jackson
- Jay Ward
- Tavierre Thomas
- K’Von Wallace
- Kahlef Hailassie
More on Smith
The Vikings Age‘s Brad Berreman noted on Smith, “At age 36 and now entering his 14th season, retirement speculation around Smith has become an annual thing entering each offseason. He, of course, chose to keep playing early this offseason, with a revised contract that has some finer details reflecting his exalted status in franchise history.”
“If Smith were going to change his mind about continuing to play, he surely would’ve made that decision well before now, with the start of the season around the corner. He was also named a team captain on Thursday, further confirming he will be around this season once this health issue is fully behind him.”
If Smith is good to go next Monday, it will be his 23rd game against the Bears in his career.
Berreman added, “Placing Smith on the 53-man roster means a long absence is not expected, barring something unforeseen happening or something that has not been reported. But with his status for Week 1 unclear like it is, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports the Vikings had veteran safety K’Von Wallace in for a workout on Thursday makes a lot more sense.”
“All in all, the clarity multiple Vikings reporters provided on Thursday is a good thing. And Smith has not reconsidered his decision to play the 14th season in a Vikings uniform.”
Oddsmakers believe Minnesota will take down Chicago by a point or two.
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