Vikings Training Camp 2019: Previewing the secondary
By Chris Schad
Starting Safeties: Harrison Smith and Anthony Harris
While the Vikings have questions at the cornerback position heading into camp, there are no such worries on the back end.
Harrison Smith has a long track record of success in the NFL and Anthony Harris broke out as one of the top safeties in the league according to Pro Football Focus’ overall grades. With two potentially elite players in the deep secondary, it’s a luxury that allows Mike Zimmer to take risks elsewhere.
To start off at the safety position you have to talk about Smith. The eight-year veteran has been one of the league’s most consistent safeties year in and year out, but he doesn’t garner the national attention he deserves. That’s just fine for the Vikings who reap the benefits of Smith’s ability to do a little bit of everything.
Smith picked up three interceptions last year for the Vikings, but the best aspect of his game is the physicality he brings to the secondary. When Zimmer decides to send Smith on a blitz, he’s highly effective, ranking seventh among safeties in PFF’s pass-rushing productivity rating (15.4) thanks to four hurries (10th), nine pressures (fifth) and three sacks (second).
It’s also nice that when Smith has opponents in his crosshairs, he does not miss. PFF has Smith ranked first among qualifying safeties with 21.5 tackle attempts per miss and that makes him extremely valuable against the run, ranking 10th with a 4.4 run stop percentage.
Whereas Smith brings the physicality to the back end of the secondary, Harris has brought the coverage skills. After taking over for AndrewSendejo in Week 6, the Virginia product put forth a breakout season that included three interceptions and a 24.0 QB rating when targeted that was second among safeties who played coverage in 20 percent of their snaps.
That doesn’t mean that Harris can’t come into the box to add some physicality of his own as he ranked second behind Smith in PFF’s tackling efficiency metric at 21 tackling attempts before a missed tackle.
With both Harris and Smith bringing a different skill set to the safety position, it’s possible that the Vikings can field one of the top tandems in the league once again in 2019.