Harrison Smith Tells National NFL Analyst to “Chill!”
A comical moment, to be sure, and not one that reflects an actual feeling of anger or disapproval.
While chatting with Tom Pelissero and Bucky Brooks of The NFL Network, Harrison Smith takes on a question about Justin Jefferson (someone who gets attention every so often). “What’s it like facing Justin Jefferson everyday?” Brooks asks, “I was here last week and it was like bomb city catching passes.”
The comment about Jefferson catching long passes with great regularity — “bomb city” — prompts the veteran safety to offer an emphatic “chill!” as he leans forward in his chair. Given that Smith is a safety, the comment about long completions predictably gets a reaction. Nevertheless, Smith delivers the command with a smile on his face, so it’s all in good fun.
The ensuing answer from Smith goes on to unpack what makes Jefferson such a tremendous player.
Harrison Smith, Justin Jefferson, and Minnesota’s Star Players
Generally a man of few words, The Hitman was happy to send praise in Jefferson’s direction.
“He’s awesome, like he really is like a superstar,” Smith explains. “The things he can do on the football field, there’s just not a lot of people that were born with those gifts. And then he also expands on them ’cause he’s always thinking about different ways to do things to make routes look similar and switch ’em up.”
The abilities that Smith identifies are the ones that allow Jefferson to put together a campaign worthy of winning Offensive Player of the Year. Yes, there are physical gifts, but there’s also a ton of hard work put into perfecting his craft. Making things look so effortless requires a lot of time and effort, truly one of the great secrets about being among the very best players in the world.
Meanwhile, Harrison Smith has been playing great football for more than a decade.
He turned his strong career at Notre Dame into becoming an opening-round selection by the Vikings back in 2012. In fact, Minnesota traded the 35th and 98th picks to Baltimore so they could climb back into the 1st round. At 29th overall, Smith became a Viking.
Convincing Vikings fans that Smith has had a Hall of Fame career won’t be a difficult task. The rest of the NFL may be a different story, though.
Somehow, he has only been a first-team All Pro once and a second-team All Pro once. In 2017, Smith finished 4th in Defensive Player of the Year voting for his contributions to Mike Zimmer’s elite defense. Before the Philadelphia Eagles shellacking in the playoffs, the Vikings’ defense was at the very top of the league. Teams averaged just 15.8 points when taking on Minnesota.
More recently, Smith put together a season that featured 85 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 FF, 10 PDs, and 5 INTs. The veteran failed to appear on either the Pro Bowl or All Pro roster; however, his peers did put him at 97th in the NFL’s top 100 list.
Last year, the safety had 519 snaps at free safety, the most he’s had since 2014. In all likelihood, Brian Flores will ask Smith to play closer to the line of scrimmage with far greater regularity. More blitzes and TFLs are in the safety’s future.
Harrison Smith’s contract comes with a cap hit a bit below $12 million in 2023. It’s a number that both sides came to after agreeing to restructure his deal during the offseason. Unless something changes with his compensation in 2024, Smith may be playing his final season in Minnesota.
He will turn 35 on February 2nd, a handful of days before the Super Bowl game will be played on February 11th.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference, PFF, and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
