Harrison Smith and Brian Flores's relationship shaped the Vikings defense

The veteran safety came back to play under Flores and he's had a blast this year

Photo courtesy Minnesota Vikings

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — The Minnesota Vikings defensive backs have received a lot of attention this year for their Disney-inspired celebrations following turnovers. And they have had a lot of opportunities to show off their moves with the Vikings leading the NFL in turnovers forced. One player that hasn’t been involved in the dance numbers but has been absolutely vital to the Vikings ascending to a top-five defense is Harrison Smith. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t having a ball in his 13th NFL season.

“We don't see the celebrations out of him, but he's enjoying it,” safety Cam Bynum said laughing.

It isn’t always obvious to the naked eye because Smith, who is aptly nicknamed “Hitman,” has a serious demeanor on the field, but he admitted on Friday that he has had a good time coming to work every day during the Vikings’ 14-3 season that has put them in position to face the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs on Sunday.

“It's been extremely fun,” Smith said. “Winning is obviously a lot of fun. Playing high level defense is fun to me. The thing that makes it…enjoyable and productive is the work week and the preparation. We're always trying to get things accomplished while enjoying working with the people you work with, players, coaches, so that when you when you have an environment like that, it fosters good play and trust and doing things for the guy next to you, which is how you play team defense.”

This was the type of outcome and environment that Smith envisioned when he decided to return to the Vikings at age 35. In his first press conference of the year, the All-Pro safety was asked why he elected not to retire after a long and potentially Hall-of-Fame career. He said that he felt the team could be a lot better than prognosticators expected and that he greatly enjoyed playing for defensive coordinator Brian Flores and wanted another year with his DC.

Bynum described the relationship between Flores and Smith as like having two coaches in the room rather than coach and player.

“The way that they collaborate when talking about the defense with, ‘OK, what check are we going to make? What are we going to do if they come out in this?’” Bynum said. “So really it's more like they’re peers in a coaching sense just because he goes to Harry and Harry goes to him when they're talking about certain things of like, OK, what can we do in this? And do I have the freedom to make this if I see that?”

Flores uses Smith as a cross checker. He can go into his mad scientist lab and cook up different coverages and blitzes and then take them to his veteran star safety and ask him whether his ideas can actually work.

“I smile when I think about Harrison because we're always kind of going back and forth with ideas,” Flores said. “I think he thinks I'm a little nutty as far as pushing the limits, but I think he enjoys it, too. I think it's been an opportunity for him to learn and grow.”

The Vikings’ defensive coordinator, who has taken them from 28th in points against two years ago to fifth this season, views Smith as an extension of himself on the field. He sends in the play calls but gives Smith the freedom to make adjustments as he sees fit based on the opponent’s formation and tendencies.

“I put a lot on him as far as, if we're going to be able to get into that defense, I'm not going to be able to do it, you're going to have to do it on the field,” Flores said. “Because I don't know what formation the offense is going to come out in. He's the one that sees it, and he's the one that can get us into a different call. So giving him that freedom, that autonomy, I think he feels trust from me to him.”

“It's still built into our system, there's multiple ways to skin a cat I would say,” Smith said. “So sometimes you got to make some executive decisions on the field that nobody can hold your hand for. And I think when you have guys that can play a high level of high football IQ and also be able to communicate things in the moment, it is very important.”

Head coach Kevin O’Connell feels the trust between Flores and Smith. He knows that the defense has two of the sharpest football minds in the game working in tandem to get them into the right calls.

“You have basically a hub of communication from the safety position, a decision maker once the ball is snapped as far as, what are we actually going to be playing?” O’Connell said. “Having that gives me peace of mind… knowing those two are in such lockstep. It's been massive for these last two years as Flo has been able to build something really unique and something that's helped us win so many football games.”

Safety Josh Metellus noted that Smith has been playing longer than a lot of coaches have been in their posts in the NFL. He said that he has never seen another player have a relationship with a coach in the same way Smith does with Flores.

“The way they communicate, the way they understand each other, it's almost like having Flo on the field with us at times or talking to Flo is like I'm talking to [Smith],” Metellus said.

What Smith enjoys about the way Flores has communicated with players is that they feel a sense of ownership over the defense.

“Flo is not one of those hard-headed coaches where it's his way or the highway because he doesn't have a closed off mindset,” linebacker Blake Cashman said. “He's open to hearing ideas…it's all of our defense, not just his defense. So he loves to hear ideas from players and if there's there's something a player sees where, hey, I can win here and I feel like this will put me in a good opportunity to make plays, he's going to hear you out. And a guy like Harry, he makes a lot of valid points. And there's a lot of trust because of Harry's long history of just playing good football and playing it at a high level.”

Smith did want to make it clear that he isn’t out there improvising. He’s solving the problems the offense presents with the tools Flores’s system has given him.

“It's not like players are just deciding to play things certain ways because you want to,” Smith said. “There's a reason for it, there's logic behind it and it's built in to be available if we need it.”

Players on the Vikings defense understand that they are witnessing something special between Flores and Smith.

Cashman grew up in Minnesota wanting to emulate Smith. This year he has had a front row seat watching one of his heroes operate.

“When I think of Harrison Smith, I think of this hard hitting safety that plays really fast,” Cashman said. “When you have guys that play like that, they seem to be louder, big personalities. He's just a very laid back, relaxed individual. He's not going to be the one hooting and hollering, but he's one of those guys when he does have something to say, it's usually something really good.”

Between the regular season and playoffs, Smith is entering his 200th game on Monday against the Rams. He has reached the Pro Bowl six times, made All-Pro once, picked up 20.5 sacks, intercepted 37 passes, forced 12 fumbles and played nearly 13,000 snaps. The other players in his position group understand that what they have been witnessing is not routine.

“He’s Hall of Fame, man” Metellus said. “It's an honor. I'm grateful to be able to have experienced it… I know a big thing I wanted to do before he retired was play with him and make sure I got pictures. And I got a couple of good ones now. So, I mean, anything else we get from him now is just a blessing and we just got to be grateful for him.”

Bynum said that when he first started playing with Smith, he would see the star safety line up in places that he wasn’t expected to be and he would think that maybe he misunderstood the play. It took playing with Smith to understand that he was finding ways to disguise what the coverage was going to be.

“It's just inspiring being able to hear them talk ball and see the way that Harry's able to think about the game,” Bynum said. “It humbles me. Also makes me realize, OK, I have a lot of work to do, a lot of learning to do. Because anytime I think I'm a smart guy, I go listen to Harry's conversation with Flo and I'm like, ‘OK, that's next level.’ … I just like to be on a fly on the wall near them because I can learn just by observing and seeing the things that they talk about.”

No matter how long Smith has been around or how many different iterations of defensive schemes that he’s played in from Les Frazier to Mike Zimmer to Ed Donatell to Flores, he’s always trying to understand the game a little bit better every year. It’s what keeps him young in the game, despite being too old to dance.

“I’d say it's been very educational from a football standpoint, a philosophy standpoint, how to play in big moments, how to communicate through your job and also play schematically in a way I'd never played before,” Smith said.

As much fun as Smith has had this year, it’s unclear whether he plans to come back for a 14th season. Every offseason Smith goes through the same process. He asks whether the desire is still there to put in hundreds of hours of work and whether he’s still fast enough to keep up. The Vikings are thrilled that he came back for 2024 considering Smith gave Flores 1,009 snaps, 87 tackles, three picks and four pass breakups.

But there is the reality that Sunday’s game could be his last. There is also the reality that Flores could land a head coaching position as he has multiple interviews scheduled. If these two aren’t together again, it will be worth keeping in mind on Monday night that the Vikings had something special with one of the all-time best players at his position and a top defensive coordinator building a top-five defense together.

“I love coaching him. I'll tell you that right now,” Flores said.

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