4 Vikings players Brian Flores will want to keep in 2023

Harrison Smith – S

Brian Flores’ scheme is a blitz-heavy one. He loves running creative blitzes that leave a team’s corners on an island. To get those to work, he’ll need a safety who can blitz. After last season we may have forgotten, but Harrison Smith is excellent at this.

Smith was considered a potential cap cut after the season. He is getting up there in years, is due a lot of money and the heir apparent is already on the roster. With the change of defensive coordinator, it may be worth keeping him around for one more season.

Over his career, Smith has made plenty of huge plays where he creeps up to the line and then attacks the quarterback with reckless abandon.

Smith has 16.5 career sacks and 43 tackles for a loss. He’s quick and slithery off the line and closes in on the quarterback in a hurry. He has also forced nine fumbles in his career, showing a knack for making big plays when the leash comes off.

Flores loves to blitz, and to blitz often. Smith is in the waning years of his career, but he still excels at this, and will likely be kept around because of it.