{"id":255789,"date":"2025-08-02T11:27:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T11:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/255789\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T11:27:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T11:27:17","slug":"harrison-smiths-weekly-coffee-with-the-coach-is-part-of-a-special-season-for-vikings-veteran-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/255789\/","title":{"rendered":"Harrison Smith’s weekly coffee with the coach is part of a special season for Vikings veteran safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) \u2014 When Kevin O\u2019Connell saw an opportunity earlier this season to needle Harrison Smith, little did they realize this innocuous razzing would turn into a standing weekly meeting between the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings<\/a> and the longest-tenured player on his team.<\/p>\n

The connection between the boss and the veteran safety, who are separated by less than four years in age, was clearly begging to be deepened.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, you never come see me anymore,\u201d O\u2019Connell told Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll come by Friday. What time?\u201d Smith responded.<\/p>\n

True to his word, Smith walked into O\u2019Connell\u2019s office later that week \u2014 with two coffees in hand. After a chat that focused on fatherhood and families rather than blitzing tendencies or zone coverage, the vibe was good enough to keep it going.<\/p>\n

\u201cSee you next week?\u201d O\u2019Connell asked him on his way out. <\/p>\n

Smith has been stopping by for a half-hour every Friday since.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always had a more of a peer relationship,\u201d Smith said after a recent practice. \u201cHe is my boss, but we\u2019re closer in age. He kind of came into the league when it was a certain way, and it\u2019s changed a little. I\u2019ve definitely gotten to know more about him as a coach, a player, a person, the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having steered the Vikings to a 14-3 record in the regular season after they were widely projected as a last-place team by analysts and oddsmakers, O\u2019Connell is one of the leading candidates for the NFL<\/a> Coach of the Year award. Beyond the acumen as an offensive strategist and a quarterback developer, though, is a revered leader who learned enough from his stint as a backup in the league to apply toward his approachable personality and get the most out of his players. <\/p>\n

Understanding their backgrounds and figuring out what makes them tick is a perpetually vital part of the job, and there\u2019s nobody O\u2019Connell has enjoyed getting to know more than Smith, the six-time Pro Bowl selection in his 13th season in the NFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can be such a good gauge of the locker room and the pulse of the building and all those things,\u201d O\u2019Connell said. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily he\u2019s telling me things that I need to know. It\u2019s just his unique ability to be around guys who are a lot younger than him, or other veteran players, and just communicate. I do feel like in a lot of ways it\u2019s a peer-to-peer type of relationship because of the respect level there, but it\u2019s been a cool part of this year getting that time with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith will turn 36 one week before the Super Bowl, where he\u2019d love to be for the first time with this championship-deprived franchise. The Vikings start the playoffs on Monday night against the Los Angeles Rams in a wild-card round game that was moved to Arizona<\/a> out of concern for wildfires in California.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell has tried to steer clear of the subject of Smith\u2019s future, as tempting as it can be to tease him about the uncertainty of his status beyond this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Hey, man, you\u2019re playing pretty darn well. What are you thinking?\u2019\u201d O\u2019Connell said. \u201cThen he\u2019ll laugh and change the subject.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell went so far as to name Smith as one of the players that comes to mind when he sees the team\u2019s Norseman logo. The classic extra coach on the field, Smith has naturally been a big boost for defensive coordinator Brian Flores and his desire to run an aggressive, disguise-heavy scheme. <\/p>\n

Before Minnesota\u2019s game against Atlanta in Week 14, with the return of quarterback Kirk Cousins raising the energy level in the stadium and on both sidelines, Flores asked Smith to talk to the defense about keeping level-headed, figuring the message was best delivered by one of the most respected players on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love coaching him,\u201d Flores said. \u201cHe\u2019s allowed me to be more creative and attempt to do some things \u2014 because they don\u2019t all work \u2014 because of his acumen, because of his leadership, because I think he can get us into some certain things that will help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Smith has a tendency to recoil slightly when reminded of his status as the oldest player on the team, he has relished being the go-to guy for advice on and off the field among his fellow defenders. His wingman in the secondary, fourth-year safety Cam Bynum, thought so highly of Smith that he bought him a piano after his rookie season once he heard Smith was learning to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of conversations we have are about music, because he plays guitar. So it\u2019s like, \u2018Why not learn piano too?\u2019\u201d Bynum said. \u201cWe\u2019re locked in forever technically. He\u2019ll see that piano and be like, \u2018That\u2019s my guy Cam.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Vikings won\u2019t soon forget Smith, whenever he decides to hang it up.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just respect everything about how he operates, how he treats people, how he communicates,\u201d O\u2019Connell said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s being close in age or whatever it is, but I\u2019ve really enjoyed the time that I get with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NFL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EAGAN, Minn. (AP) \u2014 When Kevin O\u2019Connell saw an opportunity earlier this season to needle Harrison Smith, little…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[15798,7,21433,6192,294,58,233,259,2529,20187,6,498,9,234],"class_list":{"0":"post-255789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-vikings","8":"tag-cam-bynum","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-harrison-smith","11":"tag-kevin-oconnell","12":"tag-kirk-cousins","13":"tag-los-angeles-rams","14":"tag-minnesota","15":"tag-minnesota-vikings","16":"tag-minnesotavikings","17":"tag-mn-state-wire","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-nfl-football","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-vikings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114958935387415894","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}