Having Harrison Smith back is ‘massive’ for Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell

PALM BEACH, Fla. – Early in Harrison Smith’s annual offseason deliberations about whether to play another season with the Vikings, the safety has a rule for Kevin O’Connell.

“I give him his space,” O’Connell said at the NFL owners’ meetings on Tuesday. “If I call or text him, we are not to talk about football until he’s ready. So there may have been a couple golf texts here and there, a couple of calls to check in on all the things happening in the world.”

One morning last month, O’Connell got the call from Smith he was waiting for.

“He said, ‘Hey, Boss Man, I think I’ve got one more in me,‘” O’Connell said. “And I was like, ‘Am I allowed to talk about football yet?’ I took that as a yes. He heard my excitement.”

The 36-year-old Smith’s decision to return for a 14th season provided a jolt for O’Connell, who’d campaigned along with defensive coordinator Brian Flores for Smith to keep playing. The Vikings gave him a new deal for 2025, with an $8 million signing bonus, a $2 million base salary and a raft of incentives and bonuses that could push his compensation as high as $14 million in 2025. Tucked among the incentives in the contract: a “Hitman to the HOF” bonus that pays Smith $500,000 if he intercepts four passes in 2025.

It’s a lot of money for a safety who’s played at least 900 snaps every year since 2017, but the Vikings still deem Smith too valuable to think about life without him.

“I haven’t coached a down for the Minnesota Vikings without Harrison Smith here,” O’Connell said. “He’s a huge part of who I am as a coach. He’s a huge part of what we built together in Minnesota. He stands for so many things that I believe in, in this game, in the locker room. Having him back is massive for me. And I thought he had a really good year. I think sometimes we get caught up in the nostalgic side of things with, he’s made it 14 years one team, 36 years old. He’s closer to my age than anybody in the locker room. We still have our coffee every Friday. But he’s still a really good player and brings so much to the table to our defense.”

The Vikings made Isaiah Rodgers their first addition of the free agency period, signing the former Eagles cornerback to a two-year, $11 million deal. Rodgers started only three games last season for the Eagles, but O’Connell didn’t need long to see Flores believed he could do more.

“Isaiah was a guy that Flo identified pretty early,” O’Connell said. “I’ve been doing this long enough with Flo. Once he has that tone in his voice about guys — I’m not going to mention the other ones he had that in his voice about — but he’s been pretty darn accurate. And that guy, whether playing for us or somebody else, has immediately shown up."

After returning from a 2023 suspension for violating the NFL’s gambling policy, Rodgers fared well in coverage for the Eagles last year. His 4.28-second 40-yard dash speed could make him a factor on kickoffs, especially after the NFL revised kickoff rules on Tuesday, moving touchbacks out to the 35-yard line to encourage teams to put more kickoffs in play.

But O’Connell’s comments Tuesday suggested Rodgers will play a big role in the secondary.

“I see Isaiah being an every-down impact guy,” O’Connell said. “And then bringing a guy like Jeff Okudah, who we’ve had some real experience against. We kind of see him as a boundary-type corner in nickel defense, shorten the field and get physical, go put his hands on people. And then I think Mekhi [Blackmon] and [Dwight McGlothern] coming off the years that they had: Mehki was injured, [McGlothern] a little bit more of a developmental year, but we feel really good about those five. Our roster is pretty full at that position right now, so it’s going to be competitive throughout the spring, especially if we were able to do anything in the draft.”

The Vikings signed several free agents returning from injuries, including guard Will Fries (who’s coming off a tibia fracture), but O’Connell said he expects players like Fries, Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave to be ready for a full training camp.

The one exception, he said, could be wide receiver Rondale Moore, who suffered a season-ending knee injury during training camp with the Falcons last year. The Vikings signed Moore to a one-year, $2 million contract last month.

“The only one I would be looking to see if he has a normal training camp or not is Rondale, as far as I’ve been told now,” O’Connell said. “I think our medical staff does a great job, but there could be some unique things that come up. We want to be smart about working backwards from 17-plus games.”

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