Monday Morning Mailbag: An Undermanned Vikings Defense & Harris' Future at Safety

[Viktor]

Other than Josh Metellus, what's the plan for the safety position going into the upcoming years!?!?! Harrison Smith will age out, and there are question marks abound with Anthony Harris. Granted they've both been tasked with so much underlying responsibility, but thoughts on them and their position going forward.


— BethAnne in Las Vegas


A great question from BethAnne, especially now that the focus begins to really shift toward the offseason.


We'll start with Smith, who signed a multi-year extension way back in the summer of 2016 that is nearing its end. He will be 32 at the start of next season (and is a future Hall of Famer if you ask me), so I think he'll be around for a few more years.


It will be interesting to see what happens with Harris. He was able to make plays all over the field a year ago, tying for the league-lead with six interceptions. The Vikings used the franchise tag on Harris this offseason to buy time and retain his services, but the splash plays from 2019 didn't happen this season. A lot of that likely has to do with the roster turnover around him, but Harris doesn't have any interceptions with one game to go. He's an unrestricted free agent after Sunday, so it remains to be seen if he'll be back in Purple, or if he'll want a fresh start somewhere else. Harris has been a great leader in the locker room, developing into a consummate pro after beginning his career as an undrafted free agent in 2015.


It's hard to know much about the other safeties since Smith and Harris have played so much in 2020. Harris hasn't missed any of Minnesota's 1,016 defensive snaps, and Smith has played 972 of them, which is at 95.67 percent.


George Iloka played 45 snaps before his season-ending injury, while Metellus has played just 16 defensive snaps in 2020. Curtis Riley has played just one snap, and Myles Dorn (an undrafted free agent) missed the entire season with an injury.


If Harris returns, the Vikings are obviously set again at starters and would hope to develop the young players behind them. But if Harris moves on, the Vikings could throw one of the young guys into the mix while also looking at that position in the draft.


There's one game to go, but we'll have lots of offseason storylines to go to starting in January.