Harrison Smith spent 13 seasons in Minnesota and won exactly zero Super Bowls. Pro Football Focus thinks he deserves a gold jacket anyway.
PFF ranked Smith — who retired after the 2024 season — as the top defender on its Minnesota Vikings all-defensive team covering the past 20 seasons, a list the outlet framed around Hall of Fame consideration. The rankings were published Thursday, June 5.
Smith’s case for Canton
Smith, a first-round pick out of Notre Dame in 2012, played his entire NFL career with the Vikings. Over that stretch he was named to seven Pro Bowls and widely regarded as one of the more complete safeties of his generation — a player who covered tight ends, blitzed off the edge, and tackled in the open field at a level most at his position don’t.
PFF’s grading system, which scores players on a play-by-play basis, rated Smith above every other Viking defender across two decades of data. The outlet didn’t name a runner-up in the source material available Thursday.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame doesn’t consider first-year eligible players until five years after retirement — meaning Smith, if he stepped away after the 2024 season, wouldn’t be eligible for the Class of 2030 at the earliest. His candidacy isn’t a question for Canton voters yet.
Whether PFF’s ranking moves the needle with Hall selectors remains to be seen; the voters are a separate body with their own criteria, and PFF grades aren’t an official input in the process.
Yahoo Sports, June 5, 2026. Read the original report.
