What if Harrison Smith was never a Minnesota Vikings legend? We have that answer
The NFL Draft remains the second-biggest event in the NFL calendar behind the Super Bowl. Like it or not, it also remains one of the biggest things that fans and media enjoy going back and analyzing to see "what could have been."
Pro Football Focus has done a good job this offseason by starting a re-draft series that we have been tracking here on Vikings Wire. In their latest draft, they looked back on, it just so happens to be one of the more impactful ones in recent memory for the Minnesota Vikings franchise: The 2012 NFL Draft.
That year, the Vikings were able to land future Hall of Fame safety Harrison Smith with one of their two first-round picks. In PFF's exercise, they end up losing him to the Miami Dolphins as they looked to spearhead a new look defense for their new head coach at the time, Joe Philbin.
They write, "Smith has played 13 years in the NFL and will be suiting up for his 14th in 2025. Aside from his 2013 campaign in which he started just seven games due to a foot injury, Smith didn't record a season-long PFF overall grade below 70.0 for the first 10 years of his career. He's had five seasons of 80.0-plus PFF overall grades as a true deep-coverage field general."
Smith is still going strong for the Vikings in what could be his last season with the team in 2025. He has proven to be one of the best defenders in team history so getting him originally at pick 29 can be looked back upon as one of the better steals in the last generation of the NFL Draft.
As for the Dolphins in this case, we will just assume they wouldn't appreciate him as much as a team or fanbase as the Vikings have.
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