Even at 33 Years Old, Vikings' Harrison Smith Still Viewed as Top-Ten NFL Safety
Greatness in professional sports encompasses a plethora of factors, but it can often be boiled down to two words: peak and longevity.
The idea of evaluating a player's peak is fairly simple. How great were they when they were at their best? How much of an impact did they have on the game? To what extent did the ultimate version of that player make the teammates around them better and drive winning?
Longevity is about consistency and the ability to sustain that greatness. How good was that player even before they reached their peak? How long did their peak last? And how long after their peak were they able to remain a productive, above-average player?
The reason why Vikings safety Harrison Smith might be a Pro Football Hall of Famer when it's all said and done is that his resume has both peak and longevity.
Smith was good right away, starting every game as a rookie — and earning an 80.8 PFF grade — on a 2012 Vikings team that reached the playoffs. His peak, which ran from roughly 2014 to 2019, saw him make five Pro Bowls and two All-Pro teams and earn four season-long PFF grades of at least 85. Smith was indisputably one of the best safeties of the decade (and arguably a pretty egregious snub from the 2010s All-Decade team).
Even in 2021, during his age-32 season, Smith was good enough to earn a strong 77.9 PFF grade and make his sixth Pro Bowl.
Thus, it's not entirely surprising that the now-33-year-old veteran has once again cracked the top ten in ESPN's safety rankings, which are based on a survey of NFL executives, coaches, scouts, and players.
Related: No Love for Danielle Hunter, Eric Kendricks in ESPN's Top 10s By Position
Smith checks in at No. 7 on the list, down two spots from last year. Here's what's impressive about that: outside of Smith, the other nine safeties in the top ten are all between 23 and 28 years old. You have to double that age range to get to Smith at 33 years old.
ESPN makes it clear in explaining the premise of these rankings that this isn't about rewarding Smith for his incredible career. He's on the list because he's still one of the ten best safeties in the NFL, according to people inside the league.
The objective is to identify the best players right now for 2022. This is not a five-year projection or an achievement award. Who are the best players today? Pretty simple.
Although some of the NFL people polled by ESPN pointed out that Smith isn't the player he once was, others focused on how his intelligence and football IQ have allowed him to remain a great player despite no longer being at his athletic peak.
Many evaluators make the same assumption when casting their votes: Harrison Smith still has to be in there, right? But others quickly point out decline after a decade of worn NFL tread.
"Smith no doubt was [the standard] and the prototype for a long time. Age gets us all," an NFC front-office member said.
Most agree he has probably lost a half-step. But he has been arguably the most complete safety of the past decade and still productive, making his sixth Pro Bowl in 2021 with 114 tackles, three sacks and seven passes defended.
One veteran NFL offensive coach said he is a player "you absolutely must account for on every snap, and the list of safeties that do that is pretty short. Guys like him are still hard to find."
A high-ranking NFL official added, "He still has all the things that make him special — his brains, instincts and experience will always get him close to the action."
Several others made the point that Minnesota's lack of cornerback play and pass rush affected Smith, who tried to compensate and overplayed some angles as a result. But Smith is basically the Demario Davis of safeties, equipped with football savvy to defy age.
"Obviously he's getting older, but his intelligence overcomes a lot of that," the defensive coach said.
Even at his current age, the Vikings' longest-tenured player is still one of their best and most important defenders as he enters his 11th NFL season.
Peak Harrison Smith combined elite football knowledge and anticipation with a top-tier physical toolbox that included size, burst, agility, toughness, and ball skills. Even if he's lost a step, the mental side of the game has only grown for Smith over the years.
Smith can still do it all: make quick reads in zone coverage, pick up a man-on-man assignment against a tight end or slot receiver, blitz the quarterback out of a designed pressure package, and step up in the box as a run defender.
Only four safeties since the NFL/AFL merger have racked up at least 29 interceptions and 16 sacks in their careers: LeRoy Butler, Brian Dawkins, Rodney Harrison, and Smith. He's one of the greatest players of his generation, and he's on track to end up as a Hall of Famer.
But that's a conversation for another day. This is about the 2022 season and how Smith is still one of the top ten safeties in the league. It'll be a lot of fun to see how he adapts to the Vikings' new Fangio/Donatell scheme, which places a lot of importance on the safety position.
For the 11th year in a row, Smith will be a huge part of the Minnesota Vikings' defense. In a sport where careers can decline quickly and player movement is common, that's pretty cool.
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