“Rumor Flying Around” That Vikings Are Shopping… Harrison Smith

Rumor Flying around #Vikings Harrison Smith available in trade. One of best safeties in league owed $19M in next 2 seasons. 31 Yrs Old. Vikings clearly considering keeping Anthony Harris over the long tenured Smith. Colts? Vikings?
— Chad Forbes (@NFLDraftBites) March 10, 2020
Wow…. this is a pretty crazy rumor. I was researching this last weekend and mentioned it on both The Scoop and Bleeding Purple last week, but there are only a handful of contracts that stick out like Harrison Smith’s, when you look at all of the Vikings cap hit vs cut/trade penalties. His is in the same category as surefire cut/restructure candidates like Xavier Rhodes, Linval Joseph and Riley Reiff.
Don’t get me wrong, the man has earned every penny and is our most reliable defensive player. He’s the fucking man. Facts are just facts. The Vikings would save $8.75 million (after cap hits) this season and $19M over the next two seasons by trading Harrison Smith, according to Spotrac.com.
I was cautious in even mentioning the possibility though… because the Vikings dealing Harrison Smith seems blasphemous in theory. There are a couple possibilities, that come to me right away.
- This could be a play by the Vikings, in current extension negotiation with Harrison Smith. Would he want to add more guarantees and a couple of years onto his current deal, that only has 2 years remaining on it? That would make sense AND the Vikings putting out a report like this, to try and squeeze every penny possible out of that extension, would as well.
- Sometimes, as Stefon Diggs would say, “There’s truth to all rumors, Chris.” The Vikings are going to make SIGNIFICANT changes this offseason on defense. I don’t expect those changes to involve Harrison Smith… but with the money they need to recoup, nothing would blow me off my feet. Even a Kirk Cousins – Tom Brady – Jimmy Garoppolo deal.
Buckle up, fam… this is going to be a wild ride of an offseason. Put MinnesotaSportsFan.com in your favorites tab and make sure you set notifications.
I get paid to make sure you know these things as quickly as possible. So hang out here, and you’ll be informed on all clickable news.
Thanks to Downtown Joe Brown for pointing this report out to me. It indeed is a great day for Vikings news…
This is a fun VIKINGS Twitter day isn’t it @realmnsportsfan? https://t.co/dKwlmlfQXh
— Downtown J Brown (@DTjoebrown) March 10, 2020
Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan
More About:Minnesota Vikings