Vikings safety Harrison Smith was snubbed by NFL.com’s All-Decade Team, but he recently made a list that focused on an ideal defensive back corps for the 2020 season.
Pro Football Focus named Smith among an ideal 2020 secondary. Vikings safety Anthony Harris was an honorable mention on the team.
Here is some of what is said about the choice of Smith:
“At safety, the debate is between which system is better overall — a single-high one that plays primarily Cover 1 or Cover 3, or a split-safety system that employs variations of Cover 2, 4 and 6. Ultimately, I think you have more flexibility if you use the latter as your primary structure, which has knock-on effects on the types of safety you need. Instead of searching for a true rangy single-high free safety, and an enforcing box safety, you need a hybrid of both. In fact, you need two of them. The best prototype of that mix of skills has been Minnesota’s Harrison Smith for a number of years.”
PFF said that “a smaller sample size” kept Harris as an honorable mention.
The Patriots’ Stephon Gilmore, the Chargers’ Casey Hayward, Desmond King, the Titans’ Kevin Byard and Dime linebacker Jamal Adams were starters alongside Smith on the list.