Vikings Hoping to Reduce Harrison Smith's Workload Slightly in 2024

Smith played over 1,100 snaps last year at age 34.

Nov 27, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell greets / Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Harrison Smith will return to Minnesota for a 13th season in 2024, agreeing to a pay cut a few weeks ago to remain with the only NFL franchise he's ever known. As the Vikings look to get the most out of the possible future Hall of Famer in his age-35 season, they're hoping to scale back his workload a bit, Kevin O'Connell said at last week's NFL Owner's Meetings in Orlando.

Smith played 1,113 defensive snaps last year at age 34, which was 98.4 percent of the total downs the Vikings played on defense. Only fellow safety Camryn Bynum, who is nine years younger, played a higher total. It's possible that the heavy workload may have contributed to Smith's first half of the season being a bit better than his second half.

"We're not going to be able to play him as much as we did," O'Connell said. "You highlight guys like Harrison Phillips, Harrison Smith, Jordan Hicks, even (Jonathan Bullard) up front, you think about just how many snaps they actually had to play. That's where we're trying not to just be better from the overall landscape of the starting group (this year), but it's the depth."

The hope for the Vikings is that having greater depth this year will allow them to spread out the snap counts a bit more on the defensive side. Last year, they played three safeties — Bynum, Smith, and Josh Metellus — on basically an every-down basis. Adding Shaquill Griffin gives the Vikings three starting-caliber cornerbacks (along with Byron Murphy Jr. and Mekhi Blackmon), which could allow them to have a few more plays where Smith is able to rotate out and stay fresh.

Still, Smith is going to play quite a bit this year. The Vikings are thrilled to have him back, both for his on-field abilities and his off-the-field leadership.

"Harrison Smith is a guy, to me, who probably doesn't get enough credit for his leadership ability and his impact," O'Connell said. "He's one of my favorite players I've ever been around. I think he's a perfect fit in (Brian Flores') defense from a standpoint of being a beacon of communication and getting him back around the line of scrimmage to be impactful both in the run and the pass game. However long Harrison wants to play, I want him playing on a football team that I'm coaching."

Smith was weighing retirement this year. But he ultimately decided he wanted to play again and stay in Minnesota, even though that meant taking a significant pay cut.

"Once he decided he wanted to play football again, there was zero wavering as far as the fact that he wanted to be a Viking," O'Connell said.

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