Taking a haircut to stay
Harrison Smith definitely considered leaving the Vikings this offseason for Cincinnati or one of the other suitors believed to have had interest in the six-time Pro Bowl safety had the salary cap-strapped Vikings been forced to release him.
"I thought about it for sure," he said Tuesday. "It's human nature. I think about other things and other places. So, yeah."
But, in the end, however, Smith said, "it felt right to stay." Even when staying meant taking a pay cut from $14.7 million to $8 million with $2 million in incentives.
Smith said there wasn't one particular reason he stayed but did add that playing for and learning from new defensive coordinator Brian Flores was "honestly a big draw in staying here."
Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell fired Ed Donatell, last year's defensive coordinator, after one season in which the defense played softer schemes than O'Connell, the players — and the fans — would have liked. With the offseason program starting this week and more players beginning to speak publicly, it's becoming clear that hiring the ultra-aggressive Flores was a popular move in the locker room.
"I like his mentality," Smith said. "I like, just the first few days, how he kind of relays information and how he thinks about things."
Smith excelled for eight seasons as former coach Mike Zimmer's most versatile defensive weapon and pre-snap tool of deception. According to Pro Football Focus, Smith blitzed at least 35 times a season under Zimmer and only 14 times last season.
Flores comes to Minnesota with an established record of pushing the limits on man coverage and zero-blitz packages.
"If some of those things are a part of what I do or what people do on the defense, then I have some familiarity with that in the past," Smith said.
So Smith, 34, enters his 12th season with the team that drafted him. With Devin McCourty's retirement, Smith's 34 career interceptions are tied with former teammate Patrick Peterson for the most among active players.
https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-vikings-notebook-harrison-smith-brian-flores-brian-asamoah-jordan-hicks/600268156/
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
Maybe I dont completely understand dynamics on a coaching staff...But why the hell didnt KOC mandate to _onatell that he needs to evolve that D scheme right away?
It took how F'ing long for that to happen?
Sure doesnt sound like the players were happy with it, we'll here more for sure.
Fingers crossed Flores works out.
@"StickyBun" said: Fingers crossed Flores works out.It cant get worse than ranking where the finished last year.
Losing in Rd 1 at home to the Gmen? Embarrassing and traces to that POS D.
@"purplefaithful" said:@"StickyBun" said: Fingers crossed Flores works out. It cant get worse than ranking where the finished last year.Losing in Rd 1 at home to the Gmen? Embarrassing and traces to that POS D.
You can't lack aggressiveness on D in today's NFL with all the rules stacked for the offense. Period.
When everything was going sideways with Donatell, he should have been fired on the Bye Week. Major coaching blunder by KOC. One of the hardest things to do is admit you were wrong and made a mistake, especially in Coaching. As casual fans, we could all see it needed to happen. Where was Mr. Analytics in all this? Somebody needed to step in and put out the fire on the Burning Ship but apparently the Well was dry.
How much of the D-Staff has changed since Donatell has left? Could have been there was really no one on the staff to take over and make improvements.
@"BigAl99" said: How much of the D-Staff has changed since Donatell has left? Could have been there was really no one on the staff to take over and make improvements.
Mike Pettine was the obvious choice if they had pulled the trigger during the season on Donatell.
It's hard to know when to pull the trigger and make a change. Could it have been done sooner? Sure. I bet now if there is an issue, a decision is made sooner. What's done is done. I feel like the only way they can go is up now. There is a learning curve but from the roster, it is evident that changes are being made. Onward and upward
@"purplefaithful" said:@"StickyBun" said: Fingers crossed Flores works out. It cant get worse than ranking where the finished last year.Losing in Rd 1 at home to the Gmen? Embarrassing and traces to that POS D.
" in which the defense played softer schemes than O'Connell, the players — and the fans — would have liked. "That isn't the way I would have phrased it. But most appropriate descriptions wouldn't be fit to print.
@"StickyBun" said: Fingers crossed Flores works out.Looking back two years shows two defenses with different schemes that sucked. The common denominator was personnel. I hope Cine, Booth, and Evans, added to this years draft and free agency acquisitions works out. If Flores can improve the defense to average, the Vikings should be a pretty good team.
Kwesi has his work cut out for him at providing Flores with the players he needs and, Flores has his work cut out for him in working with the players he will have. Hard to be overly optimistic at this point!
@"jargomcfargo" said:Completely agree. I'm hopeful, but my guess is any improvement would be incremental. Which is maybe the most realistic way to view it.@"StickyBun" said: Fingers crossed Flores works out. Kwesi has his work cut out for him at providing Flores with the players he needs and, Flores has his work cut out for him in working with the players he will have. Hard to be overly optimistic at this point!
Donatell was brought in because the scheme was super popular
because it locked down Mahomes for a year.
Teams across the league implemented it.
Nice soft coverages, keep everything in front of you, frustrate the QBs
that like to play hero ball into making mistakes. The league has pretty much figured the scheme
out already. I don’t think there really
was a right answer to keeping or firing Donatell midseason. I think a lot of our failures were due to
failure to get guys up to speed on the scheme.
Guys were playing confused and making mistakes. It’s hard to solve that midseason by making a
bunch of changes to the scheme and combined with us not really having the
talent to run a lot of the schemes out there, you’re probably going to be wrong
no matter what you do and you’re just hoping to be less wrong.
@"medaille" said: Donatell was brought in because the scheme was super popular because it locked down Mahomes for a year. Teams across the league implemented it. Nice soft coverages, keep everything in front of you, frustrate the QBs that like to play hero ball into making mistakes. The league has pretty much figured the scheme out already. I don’t think there really was a right answer to keeping or firing Donatell midseason. I think a lot of our failures were due to failure to get guys up to speed on the scheme. Guys were playing confused and making mistakes. It’s hard to solve that midseason by making a bunch of changes to the scheme and combined with us not really having the talent to run a lot of the schemes out there, you’re probably going to be wrong no matter what you do and you’re just hoping to be less wrong.
Agree. It's probably a bad optic canning the D coordinator mid season on what was ultimately a 13 win season, despite a pathetic defense.
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