After possibly (and however briefly) considering retirement this offseason, Harrison Smith is back for his 14th season in a Minnesota Vikings uniform. The 36-year-old is in a slow decline by some measures, but he is still one of the best all-around safeties in the NFL, and he remains a general tone-setter for the Vikings' defense.
If Smith plays at least 10 games this season, he will enter the top five in regular-season games played as a Viking (209). It's hard to know if 2025 will be his final season, but it's definitely possible, and his clock to a Hall of Fame induction would then get started.
In Smith's re-worked contract for this year, there's even a "Hitman to the HOF" incentive if he has four interceptions this season. That's, of course, a reference to his nickname ("Harry The Hitman") and the future acknowledgement of his career. Four interceptions, uncoincidentally to be sure, would also put him in the top-75 on the all-time list via a multi-way tie.
Eye-opening stat reveals the greatest ability of Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith
If we wanted to nit-pick, we'd say Smith has played every game just six times in his 13 seasons so far. But he has also played over 1,000 snaps in a season seven times, including the last two seasons and in four of the last five campaigns. Mostly avoiding significant injuries playing the position he does is an accomplishment on its own.
With a hat-tip to VikesVerified on X, Smith's career has been distilled down to the year-to-year percentage of Minnesota's defensive snaps he has played.
- 2012: 91.6 percent
- 2013: 45.1 percent
- 2014: 98.9 percent
- 2015: 73.9 percent
- 2016: 86.4 percent
- 2017: 97.5 percent
- 2018: 98.6 percent
- 2019: 88.7 percent
- 2020: 95.9 percent
- 2021: 86.8 percent
- 2022: 78.6 percent
- 2023: 98.4 percent
- 2024: 89 percent
Smith has thus averaged playing 86.9 percent of the Vikings' defensive snaps per season over the course of his career.
If not for missing eight games in his second year due to a left foot injury, that average would easily be threatening 90 percent over 13 seasons.
Most, if not all, coaches would say the best "ability" a player can have is "availability." For as great as Smith has been for more than a decade, the root of his greatness is simply being on the field for the overwhelming majority of Sundays (or Monday nights, Thursday nights, etc.) along with almost never leaving the field.