The Minnesota Vikings are retooling after their Cinderella season came to a screeching halt last season in the Wild Card playoffs. After losing Sam Darnold to the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota is focusing plenty of attention on the defensive side of the ball.
The first priority with Brian Flores' group is retaining some of the critical pieces that made it such a formidable group last season. On Wednesday, the Vikings agreed to a contract with star safety Harrison Smith for next season, according to Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport of NFL Media.
“For Harrison Smith: He gets $10.25M base with incentives up to $14.0M for his 14th season,” Rapoport reported on X, formerly Twitter.
Smith is a Vikings legend who has spent his entire career with the franchise since being drafted back in 2012. He started 16 games last season and recorded 87 tackles with three interceptions and 10 pass breakups.
Related Minnesota Vikings NewsArticle continues below
Smith was contemplating retirement, but will run it back with the Vikings one more time as he looks to continue his top-tier production and add to a resume that could potentially get him into the Hall of Fame.
Smith is a two-time All-Pro and a six-time Pro Bowler, and his counting stats are right there with some of the best in the game at the moment. He is the active NFL leader in interceptions with 37 and has also racked up 1,126 tackles, 20.5 sacks, 96 pass breakups and 12 forced fumbles during his illustrious career in Minnesota.
The Vikings also made it a priority to retain their top corner, as Byron Murphy agreed to a three-year, $66 million deal to stay in Minnesota. He and Smith are both very good players and should form a strong secondary once again in 2025.
The Vikings also went out into the free agent pool and splurged to shore up the interior of their defensive line. They signed defensive tackles Javon Hargrave (two years, $30 million) and Jonathan Allen (three years, $60 million) to address the biggest weakness that the defense had last season. With all of this money going around on defense, Flores should have one of the best defenses in the NFL once again in 2025.