For the past 14 years, Harrison Smith has been a part of all of our Sunday afternoons. From the Leslie Frazier days to the Minneapolis Miracle to Thursday’s win over the Detroit Lions, Smith has been a constant for the Minnesota Vikings and their fans. This Sunday, there’s a better than decent chance that ride will end at home against the Green Bay Packers.
The 36-year-old safety has been mum on his future throughout the season, but it’s easy to see how 2025 could be Smith’s final curtain call. The Vikings will play Green Bay in what amounts to a pretty meaningless game in the grand scheme of things. Still, regardless of the outcome, this Sunday will remind everyone that it’s not the wins or losses that keep us coming back, it’s the stories.
After the 2012 NFL Draft, in which the Vikings took both Matt Kalil and Harrison Smith in the first round, analyst Mel Kiper Jr. had one simple thought.
“I don’t think we’ll look back and see a lot of star power here,” he remarked, “but they got what they needed.”
While that sentiment rang true for one of those picks, Smith has been one of the most dominant safeties of the last decade and is a surefire Hall of Famer. If we’re honest with ourselves, though, it was easy to overlook him. Kalil was the top-five pick, and Smith was the safe, boring pick at a position of need at 29th-overall. Some feared he would be a jack of all trades but a master of none, leaving him to be an average player in most aspects. Instead, Smith is just one interception away from being one of three players in NFL history to have at least 20 sacks and 40 interceptions.
Part of his recent success has been thanks to defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who also isn’t guaranteed to return to Minnesota in 2026. Over the last three years, despite his age, Smith has five sacks and five interceptions with Flores at the helm. That’s not to say Smith would definitely retire if he couldn’t play for Flores anymore. Still, in the slight chance his DC finds a head coaching job this offseason, it could certainly play a factor.
But putting his age and hypotheticals aside, Smith played a career game last week in the win against Detroit, notching a sack and an interception, and in the process, reignited the love of the game for fans and maybe even himself. It was a reminder to everyone that he’s still one of the best in the league, and it wouldn’t be poor play that forced Smith into retirement.
“I don’t want to get emotional about it, but it’s pretty special,” Smith said after the win. “The fans here have never experienced a Super Bowl, always show up, and for them to keep showing up…it just shows how much they love the team, how much they love everything that goes into it.”
This weekend in the season finale, the Packers will rest several starters, and the Vikings will be without many of theirs. It’s not exactly the heavyweight fight that it could have been had Minnesota won one more game somewhere along the way. But the big storyline will be Smith, who, after 208 games, will have to decide what he’ll spend his time doing in 2026.
While it’s hard to picture a Vikings defense that doesn’t feature Harrison Smith, maybe we won’t have to. Head coach Kevin O’Connell hasn’t given up the dream of getting one more year out of the veteran, even going so far as to drop some not-so-subtle hints.
“I’ve been nudge nudge and kind of catching him, picking my spots to keep on saying, ‘I know you’re having a lot of fun doing it, so …,’” O’Connell said. “He’s remarkable. He’s one of my absolute all-time favorites.”
The retirement talk has been a topic of discussion around Smith for two or three years now, but it certainly feels as though the whispers are getting louder this season. He’ll be 37 next year, and although his body could probably handle another grueling season, his mind may not be up for the same punishment.
After captaining Minnesota’s defense for over a decade, short of a Super Bowl, there wouldn’t be a better way than to go out with a win over Green Bay. But, for years now, Smith has shouldered the burden of being a Viking, a franchise living in constant desperation to win a Super Bowl, and it might be time now for the fan-favorite to get some well-deserved rest.
“Whenever I retire, I’m not going to tell you,” said Smith in January. “You’ll figure it out. … I’ll say this: It’s hard to have the ability to play and not have the desire to play. I’m not trying to be ominous or anything. Right now, my shoulder hurts.”
