Every year for about five years I've been predicting a decline for Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith,because,well,most 31yearold safeties decline pretty ,Harrison Smith is not most safeties,and to his immense credit,he has bucked the odds year after year after retrospect,this was actually a dumb thing to project because Smith is in my opinion a HallofFame caliber player,and those guys tend to age Packers didn't even acquire Charles Woodson until his age 30 season,and he had many great years is not Woodson's caliber almost no one is,but he's a 6time ProBowler and was the anchor of good defenses for a Smith is awesome,is what I'm ,one of the unchangeable rules of football is that if you project an agerelated decline long enough,you'll eventually be correct,and here we averaging almost four interceptions per season from his rookie year through 2022 a year in which he had five,Smith has just three total picks in his last three seasons,all coming in passes defended have cratered as well,and while he's still a reliable tackler,he's clearly lost a step and some grading agrees as,outside of an injuryplagued 2013 season,he's never received a grade below 74. 3 until that point forward,he's yet to achieve a grade over 68. 9,and currently sits are an extremely mediocre 55. 8 in have caught a robust 78. 6% of their targets with Smith in coverage for an equally robust 10. 8 yards per reception and a 102. 1 passer rating has been a fairly significant problem for the Minnesota Theo Jackson 64. 9 PFF grade and starter Josh Metellus 56 https://www.gbpackersoutfit.com/green-bay-packers-donovan-jennings-jersey. 1,but an atrocious 45. 9 in coverage haven't even been close to replacing or supplementing Smith's lost production,and the overall defense has greatly suffered for Smith was always there in run support and to clean up messes in the back,the Vikings are currently 29th in DVOA against outside primary receivers and 24th against outside secondary EPA per Play,this was the secondbest defense in football last season to Denver with 0. 091,but they've dropped down to th 0. 023 this season at the same time that JJ McCarthy has tanked the offense. I suspect the Vikings were counting on their defense and Brian Flores to maintain a level of excellence and prop up the team while McCarthy develops,but defense is particularly fickle from year to year and the Vikings have simply not been up to the 's decline is a big part of that,and without an heir apparent at safety,it's likely to be a problem for a long time Jalen White Jersey.