Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith is poised to join an illustrious group during Week 11’s matchup with the Chicago Bears.
A 14-year NFL veteran, Smith is set to play in his 200th career game on Sunday at home, the team announced on Thursday, November 13. After missing the first two games of the season due to a personal health issue, Smith will become the sixth Vikings player to reach the landmark number, joining the late Jim Marshall, Mick Tinglehoff, Fred Cox, Carl Eller and Scott Studwell.
.@harrismith22 is set to play in his 200th career game on Sunday. He will become the sixth player to reach 200 career games with the Vikings, joining Jim Marshall, Mick Tinglehoff, Fred Cox, Carl Eller and Scott Studwell.
Smith’s 200th career game is a testament to not only his sustained success over 14 seasons in the NFL but also his health and love for the game. Smith has played 13 or more games for 12 of the past 13 seasons.
Smith is the NFL’s active leader in interceptions with 37 picks in his career. This season is likely Smith’s final season as a player, with his contract set to expire next year.
Smith has had one of the most impressive runs at the safety position in NFL history, but the bar to reach the Pro Football Hall of Fame is daunting, even with his resume.
The hall of fame has a backlog of incredible talents who may never get the recognition they deserve due to the weight championships play in the selection.
Smith has the personal accolades.
“He has more sacks and interceptions than Hall of Famers John Lynch and Troy Polamalu. He has six Pro Bowls, which is more than Hall of Fame finalist Rodney Harrison, 2023 inductee Ronde Barber, 2022 inductee Leroy Butler,” Purple Insider’s Matthew Coller wrote. “No other active safety has six Pro Bowls and Earl Thomas is the only player who started post 2010 with more (7).”
The analytics show that Smith has made an immense impact on the team for over a decade. However, the Pro Football Hall of Fame has begun to narrow its classes to preserve itself as the highest honor of football.
But that won’t stop many of the game’s greats from advocating for him.
“I think he’s Hall of Fame worthy,” defensive coordinator Brian Flores told Coller. “I don’t want to say ‘cemented’ that but there should be conversation around that whenever he decides to move forward.”
To date, Smith has 1,157 combined tackles,43 tackles for loss, 20.5 sacks, 13 forced fumbles, 10 fumble recoveries, 99 passes defensed, 37 interceptions and four pick-sixes.
But beyond the numbers, Smith has made an impact with his character on the Vikings’ organization.
“Harrison Smith is one of my all-time favorite players I’ve had the chance to be around as a coach,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said in 2024. “I feel very fortunate to have been in the head coach position with a guy like Harrison that I can build a relationship with, such experience, such an incredible presence within our locker room. He’s got a great way about him at all times that makes people around him better. I think he’s been huge in the implementation of our defense this year with Flo [Brian Flores] and D.J. [Daronte Jones] and those guys on that side of the ball. I’ve been really happy with the way Harrison has really attacked his role within the defense, but also the value of him as a captain and a leader of our team. I just can’t say enough about what he’s meant to me, what he’s meant to this organization.”
Ryan Leonard may have played his best game as a member of the Washington Capitals on Thursday night, and he did so in a 6-3 loss where he didn’t get on the scoresheet.
At the end of regulation, Leonard played 15:08 of ice time and fired seven shots on goal, the most he has recorded in a single game. He had nine shot attempts overall, four individual scoring chances, one individual high-danger chance, one shot block, and several impressive zone entries and plays along the wall.
“I look upfront, I thought Ryan Leonard had his best game as a pro, to be honest with you,” Monumental Sports Network’s Craig Laughlin said postgame. “His skating, his shooting. He was making moves. He looked very comfortable.”
Perhaps Leonard’s nicest highlight of the night came early in the second period after he picked up a pass from Rasmus Sandin in the neutral zone. The 2023 first-round pick dangled around defenseman Donovan Sebrango at the blueline, curled the puck around the stick of Jeff Petry, and was only done in by one of many brilliant saves from Panthers netminder Daniil Tarasov.
“I don’t know the total shots or whatever, but yeah, we had a lot of really good looks,” Leonard said after the loss. “I mean, it’s tough sometimes when the puck’s not really going in at the start of the game, and then their goalie starts to feel it a little bit, and it’s honestly the last thing you want when a goalie gets confident like that. So he played great, but we’ve got to find a way to put those pucks past him with that many shots.”
After the Capitals were unable to put away many of their chances in the first two periods, head coach Spencer Carbery threw his forward lines into a blender and put Leonard with Dylan Strome and Anthony Beauvillier. The third-year bench boss, who recently stated that he is trying to pick his spots better with Leonard, remarked that he liked what he saw from the new trio, which could hint at a more permanent promotion for Leonard in the coming games.
“Liked Leonard when we moved him with Strome there in the third period,” Carbery said. “[He] had some good opportunities at the net front that sets up our third goal. I liked a lot of what the combinations in the third did.”
Leonard has eight points (3g, 5a) through 17 games in his rookie NHL campaign. He has 12 shots on goal combined in his last two games and ranks fifth among Capitals forwards in total shots (35) this season. His 22.9 shot attempts per 60 minutes rank first on the club, just ahead of Alex Ovechkin (22.8).
Among all NHL players in the league, he ranks sixth in the stat, topped only by Cutter Gauthier (26.1), Tage Thompson (26.0), Alex DeBrincat (24.9), David Pastrnak (23.7), and Nikita Kucherov (22.9).