The Minnesota Vikings gave veteran safety Harrison Smith all the space he needed to decide his future during the offseason. The tea leaves consistently suggested he was coming back for a 15th season in Purple, with some notable accomplishments in franchise history to reach and to bolster his Hall of Fame candidacy.
The announcement of Smith's return came before Week 1. He has played all five games so far this season, with a 47.5 percent share of the defensive snaps. The quality and impact of his performance thus far is a separate, more difficult conversation, but his intangible value can't be denied.
If Smith follows the same track he did last season, he will start to be more noticeably good on the field soon. The bye week might have been good for him on that front, with no training camp before he was suiting up for games.
If he decided to play, it has been fairly obvious, and assumed, that this would be Smith's final season. But until we hear it from him directly, nothing is 100 percent certain.
Harrison Smith confirms what everyone has expected about 2026 season
During a recent edition of "The Richard Sherman Podcast", with former NFL cornerback and current Amazon Prime "Thursday Night Football" analyst Richard Sherman, Smith confirmed this season will be his last.
"I’ve always left the door open in the past, but this is my last year. I don’t know if I’ll ever say for sure no to anything, but no, this is my last year for sure.”
Asked earlier in the conversation about his decision to return for this season, Smith offered some insight about that.
"As far as the decision goes, I was enjoying my time at home in Tennessee, stayed in shape but not getting too carried away.
And then we were just talking. My daughter was like, ‘When are we going back to Minnesota?’ She’s four, and I kind of looked at my wife and was like, ‘Actually, I’m kind of getting a little bit of an itch to go back.’
Things kind of worked out. I asked my wife if she was all good with it. She was kind of shocked a little bit but ready to go, and just made it happen.”
Whenever it was going to come up, and it would've come up at some point, Smith saying anything other than that this season is going to be his last would've been a surprise.
The surprising part is that he's declaring it so early, but credit to Sherman for putting Smith on the spot by asking him point-blank if this would be his last year.
Smith surely doesn't want the attention of a farewell tour. But he has invited one now, whether he wants it or not, and one of the best defensive players in Vikings' history will get a proper send-off from everyone who's watched him play.
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