The Minnesota Vikings’ 2026 draft class is in the books, a group nine men deep and headlined by Florida defensive tackle Caleb Banks in Round 1. Now, with attention turning toward the summer, ESPN has identified the top remaining question for Minnesota before the start of the regular season: Harrison Smith’s status.
Minnesota drafted safety help, but Smith’s decision still affects the back end of Kevin O’Connell’s roster.
O’Connell’s team may arguably have graver concerns than that, but Smith’s retirement or return takes the cake for ESPN.
Vikings’ Top Question after Draft? It’s Smith, Says ESPN
ESPN raised one question per NFL team on Monday, and for Minnesota, Kevin Seifert wrote, “Will safety Harrison Smith return? At the end of the season, all signs were pointing toward the longtime Vikings safety retiring after 14 seasons. But free agency and now the draft have come and gone, and Smith hasn’t made any public pronouncements.”
“The Vikings released him March 11 but have let him know that they would welcome him back if he decides to play in 2026. The team drafted safety Jakobe Thomas in the third round, but there have been no other notable additions at the position. The Vikings will move on if they have to, but they know they will have a better defense with Smith back on the field.”
That question, indeed, has been on Vikings fans’ minds for over three months.
The Vikings drafted Miami safety Jakobe Thomas in Round 3 on Friday night, swerving from a widely expected Dillon Thieneman selection in Round 1. If Smith was waiting to see the fruit of Minnesota’s draft, there’s no Thieneman or Emmanuel McNeil-Warren waltzing in on Day No. 1 to take his job.
O’Connell also updated the Smith return-or-retire agenda last week, saying, “It’s been a few days, but now that you remind me, I’ll probably bug him today. It’s something where we’re still trying to give Harrison as much space as possible, and I think he’s earned that. If it’s anything at this point, it’s seeing how he’s doing, seeing how his family is, seeing how his golf game is.”
Most onlookers expected that Smith would’ve retired by now — if he planned to retire in the first place this offseason. It’s also worth noting that Smith has joked in the past that no one would know when he retired because he wouldn’t be overly vocal about it. Perhaps that’s unfolding before your very eyes.
The Viking Age‘s Brad Berreman on Smith’s future: “As continuing to play has become a year-to-year proposition for him, Smith has usually made a decision to return well before now. It’s never an easy decision to call it a career, of course, but that he still hasn’t decided means retirement is possibly on his radar more legitimately than it has been in previous years.”
“The Vikings surely know which way Smith is leaning, and drafting Thomas isn’t necessarily an indicator that he’s going to retire in the coming weeks or months.”
Sans Smith, here’s the state of play at safety in Minnesota from head to toe:
S1: Josh MetellusS2: Jay WardS3: Theo JacksonS4: Jakobe ThomasS5: Tavierre ThomasS6: Kahlef Hailassie
And to get you familiar with Thomas, the newcomer, here’s the scouting report from NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein: “A productive, fifth-year safety prospect, Thomas is wired to play forward and race into the action wherever it is present. He overflows pursuit and has too many missed or broken tackles on his stat sheet, but his impact against the run is a net positive.”
“He has good ball production but is fairly average in coverage. He can be way too quick to overlap or bite on bait, which allows receivers to get behind him from single-high and split-safety alignments. Thomas has the potential to develop into a starter as a likely middle-round pick.”
While Smith’s return is a fair question for Minnesota, the club might have more pressing concerns, or at least ones with similar magnitude. These are examples:
Who will the Vikings sign to play an OLB3 role after the Jonathan Greenard trade?
Who will the Vikings sign to compete for or play WR3 after drafting no wide receivers?
How is Christian Darrisaw’s longstanding ACL recovery coming along?