The future of the Vikings, Part 6: Linebackers and safeties
Looking at the biggest storylines surrounding the Vikings LBs and safeties
By Matthew Coller
After a short hiatus due to a GM firing and the Super Bowl, the Future of the Vikings series is back. This time we take an in-depth look at what’s next for the linebacker and safety positions. Let’s dive right in..
If Harrison Smith retires, how will they replace him?
At the end of the season, it appeared that the Vikings’ All-Pro safety and lynchpin to their great defenses over the last decade would be riding off into the sunset. Smith talked emotionally several times after games about his career and the team put together a videoboard celebration for Hitman in Week 18.
It’s possible that he could come back for one last ride because Brian Flores elected to return as defensive coordinator. If he does, Smith would be welcomed back as the field general to a defense that was wildly better with him at 100% last season than when he was missing early in the year.
If he doesn’t play in 2026, the Vikings will have several different approaches to filling his very big shoes.
That begins with his role. Even in a world of dynamic defensive players, Smith stood above the rest. This season he lined up as a defensive lineman 73 times, in the box 228 times, at free safety on 427 plays and in the slot 59 times. That’s not new for Smith (in fact, it’s an underrated part of his Hall of Fame case) but there aren’t too many folks who are capable of replicating that.
Or at least replicating it with Smith’s performance in all of those areas. Even at age 36, he still ranked 26th out of 67 starting safeties by PFF grade.
The first nomination for taking over Smith’s role is Josh Metellus. Last season he played a career-high 350 snaps as a free safety after spending the majority of his breakout 2023 and 2024 seasons as a box safety/linebacker and slot defender.
From an intellectual perspective, Smith is an all-timer. His ability to identify offensive tendencies, change coverages on the fly with his communication and take calculated risks is impossible to emulate. But Metellus is a very high IQ player as well. He’s been in Flores’ defense for three years and working in the same safety room as Smith for longer than that.
Metellus did get experience in Smith’s role early in 2025 and performed admirably. Over the first five weeks as Smith was either out or building up to game speed after missing a large portion of camp, Metellus graded as PFF’s 18th best safety and 14th in coverage grade while playing more of the free safety role than ever.
Of course, that was a small sample size. The main concern with having Metellus completely slot into Smith’s role is coverage instincts. Over his career, throws into his coverage have produced a 104.9 quarterback rating (per PFF). Smith’s number is legendary as you might expect: 67.6 with just 20 touchdowns and 39 INTs.
Would they be better served not asking Metellus to take over everything that Smith does? Instead they could have Metellus still play in the box and “big nickel” while using other players as the deep safeties.
Who might those other players be?
The two options on the roster are Jay Ward and Theo Jackson.
Ward developed over several years on special teams and finally saw his first real playing time at the end of the 2025 season. He performed well overall in 249 snaps, mixing and matching all over the field in a similar fashion as Smith/Metellus. His physicality shined through from the jump as he graded strongly as a run defender.
The problem is that 249 snaps is hardly enough to say with any degree of certainty that Ward can take over a 1,000-snap type role.
Although bets like that are not unusual for Flores. Last year Jackson stepped into a key spot at safety based on strong training camps and a handful of plays. He had ups and downs playing almost exclusively as a deep safety. Overall Jackson played 529 snaps and was only targeted 10 times by opposing QBs in 302 coverage snaps.
Ward and Jackson did enough to be in the mix but replacing Smith’s total value is likely to take another player from the outside.
In free agency, there are some enticing options.
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