In previous years, with the end of his career obviously looming, Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith made a decision to keep playing before free agency started. It's not a question of whether he can still get it done at an acceptable level; it's a question of whether he wishes to continue.
This year was different. The Vikings released Smith with a post-June 1 designation in March, freeing up a roster spot while also allowing him time to make a decision about his future. The idea that he could wait until into the season to return has been put out there, and that seems like more of a possibility as more time passes without news.
Head coach Kevin O'Connell and rookie safety Jakobe Thomas have seemed to publicly suggest Smith will ultimately decide to play this season. The start of training camp is not going to be any kind of team-imposed deadline, with Smith unlikely to want to go through that grind.
Minnesota Vikings insider pushes Harrison Smith situation toward a resolution
ESPN's Kevin Seifert recently took a look at how incoming rookies could fit into Brian Flores' demanding defensive scheme this season. Unsurprisingly, the Vikings have had the second-fewest starts and the second-fewest snaps from rookie defensive players over Flores' previous three seasons as defensive coordinator.
Much of that is rooted in a lack of options, but four top-100 draft picks notably changed that this year as the core of a youth movement on that side of the ball.
Seifert offered a short summary of the expected immediate role for each of those four rookies. Regarding Thomas, the note about his track to playing time came with a more direct piece of information.
"Third-round pick Jakobe Thomas should be in the mix for the safety job that will open if veteran Harrison Smith follows through on plans for retirement."
Seifert is not the first Vikings reporter to suggest Smith is going to ultimately decide to retire. Before the draft, on an episode of the "Access Vikings" podcast, Ben Goessling of the Minnesota Star Tribune said Smith was "probably gone."
Other reporters have suggested all along that Smith retiring is a real possibility fans need to prepare themselves for. But "following through on plans for retirement" takes the conversation in a different direction.
Maybe Smith is not as on the fence about retirement as it has seemed he is for the last four months. Maybe "plans for retirement" are a fairly recent development, whatever the reasons are to push it that way.
In any case, as everyone waits for an answer about Smith's future, the trend toward retirement has become hard to ignore.
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