The Vikings opened their offseason program without safety Harrison Smith, but the door hasn’t been closed on the veteran’s return if he decides to play in 2026.
Smith wrapped up his 14th season in the final game of the 2025 campaign and said late in the year that he was unsure if he would be back for a 15th year. Smith is currently a free agent and head coach Kevin O’Connell said that he has remained in touch with the longtime cornerstone of the defense.
“It’s been a few days, but now that you remind me, I’ll probably bug him today,” O’Connell said, via the team’s website. “It’s something [where] we’re still trying to give Harrison as much space as possible, and I think he’s earned that. If it’s anything at this point, it’s seeing how he’s doing, seeing how his family is, seeing how his golf game is.”
Josh Metellus, Jay Ward, Tavierre Thomas, Theo Jackson, and Kahlef Hailassie are the current safeties on the Vikings roster.
Vikings Clips
At the end of the 2025 season, Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson was asked about quarterback J.J. McCarthy and said that he “would love to work with him and show everybody that he is that No. 1 guy” but that picture looked a little different when the team started their offseason program on Monday.
The Vikings signed Kyler Murray after the Cardinals released him and that makes McCarthy’s path back to the starting lineup a more difficult one over the coming months. Jefferson said on Monday that he has spent time working with McCarthy since the end of last season and finds the quarterback “a lot more confident” than he was a year ago, but also said he’s enthused about Murray’s ability to make “big, exciting plays” in the offense.
That ability could push McCarthy out of the No. 1 job, but Jefferson outlined why the situation can ultimately be a positive for the quarterback.
“I’m definitely looking forward to [Murray’s] speed, his quickness, his arm strength that he’s shown countless times over the years,” Jefferson said, via Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com. “And then for J.J., for somebody to enter that room with that type of ability, that type of talent, he’s got to step it up a little bit. So it’s good for him to feel that type of pressure and to really lock in a little bit and say, ‘It’s either now or I’m going to take that back seat again.’ So it’s all a competitive mindset when it comes to these type of things. So it’s all about who’s ready for that moment and who’s ready to step up and take that initiative.”
There’s a lot to play out before the Vikings name their quarterback for Week 1, but there’s little doubt that McCarthy will have to raise his level of play to remain part of the team’s long-term plans.
Edge rusher Jonathan Greenard’s future with the Vikings has been a topic of conversation throughout the offseason and it remained one on the first day of the team’s voluntary workout program.
A report on Monday morning indicated that the Eagles and Vikings have discussed a trade involving Greenard since it became known that the Vikings were open to discussing a deal involving the veteran. Head coach Kevin O’Connell said last month that he expects Greenard to be with the team for the 2026 season, but confirmed at a Monday press conference that Greenard did not take part in Monday’s work.
While Greenard is not there, executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski said that nothing has changed about the team’s expectations for his role.
“JG’s a great player,” Brzezinski said. “I expect JG to be here. There’s all this speculation, there’s been speculation. . . . We’re really happy he’s a part of our team.”
Plans can change with the right trade offer and we’ll see if anything changes about Greenard’s status in Minnesota as the draft unfolds this week.
When it comes to the Eagles and trades, there’s been a heavy recent focus on receiver A.J. Brown.
But Philadelphia also has had interest in adding an edge rusher.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Eagles and Vikings have engaged in trade talks about defensive end Jonathan Greenard multiple times during the offseason.
Minnesota is seeking a “premium Day 2 pick” in exchange for Greenard, Schefter reports. The Eagles currently hold No. 54 overall in the second round, plus No. 68 and No. 98 in the third round.
Philadelphia’s interest in adding an edge rusher, however, goes beyond Greenard, according to Schefter.
Greenard, 28, has spent the last two seasons with the Vikings. He was a Pro Bowler for the first time in 2024, recording 12.0 sacks with 18 tackles for loss and 22 quarterback hits. In 2025, he was limited to 12 games with 10 starts, recording 3.0 sacks, 10 TFLs, and 12 QB hits along with three passes defensed with one forced fumble.
Linebacker Ivan Pace has signed a contract with the Vikings for the 2026 season.
Pace’s agents Drew Rosenhaus and Kyle Lincoln said that Pace has signed the restricted free agent tender the team used on him earlier this offseason.
The Vikings tendered Pace at the right of first refusal level, which would have given them a chance to match any outside offer sheet without entitling them to any compensation if Pace moved on. Pace is now set to make $3.52 million for the coming season.
Pace has played in 45 games for Minnesota over the last three seasons. He has 236 tackles, 6.5 sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.
The NFL has announced the names of the current and former players that will take part in next week’s draft by announcing second-round picks.
The list includes players associated with all 32 teams, including Cardinals running back James Conner. Conner has strong ties to the Pittsburgh area after playing for the Steelers and attending Pitt, which likely made him an easy choice as the Cardinals’ representative.
Former Bears tackle Jimbo Covert, former Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett, former Chiefs defensive lineman Bill Maas, current Vikings tackle Brian O’Neill, former Jets running back Curtis Martin, and former 49ers punter Andy Lee are other Pitt alums who are set to take part.
The hometown team will be represented by four players. Former Steelers Jerome Bettis and John Stallworth will be joined by Joey Porter Sr. and Jr. next Friday.
The other players taking part and their team affiliations appear below:
Falcons: Michael Turner
Ravens: Mark Ingram
Bills: Shane Conlan
Panthers: Jake Delhomme
Bengals: Ken Anderson
Browns: Phil Dawson
Cowboys: Drew Pearson
Broncos: T.J. Ward
Lions: Calvin Johnson
Packers: John Kuhn
Texans: Billy Miller
Colts: Pat McAfee
Jaguars: Paul Posluszny
Raiders: Matt Millen
Chargers: Shawne Merriman
Rams: Tavon Austin
Dolphins: Dwight Stephenson
Patriots: Deion Branch
Saints: Marques Colston
Giants: Osi Umenyiora
Eagles: Brian Westbrook
Seahawks: Cliff Avril
Buccaneers: Ronde Barber
Titans: Jeffery Simmons
Commanders: Mark Rypien
Vikings defensive lineman Jalen Redmond signed his exclusive rights free agent tender on Tuesday, according to the NFL’s transactions report.
Redmond, 26, appeared in all 17 games for the Vikings last season, starting 15 games. He totaled 62 tackles, six sacks, a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and five pass breakups.
He entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent, signing with the Panthers out of Oklahoma in 2023. Redmond went on the physically unable to perform list during his first training camp, and the Panthers cut him.
Redmond played with the Arlington Renegades in the XFL in 2024, and then caught on with the Vikings that summer.
In 2024, he played 13 games, with two starts, and recorded 18 tackles, one sack and two pass breakups.
One of the draft’s top tight ends is continuing a busy stretch this week.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Georgia’s Oscar Delp is visiting with the Buccaneers and Chargers this week.
Delp previously had top-30 visits with the Patriots, Ravens, and Vikings last week.
Delp did not work out at the scouting combine after a hairline fracture was revealed in his foot during a routine X-ray. But Delp was able to work out at Georgia’s Pro Day last month.
An experienced player at Georgia, Delp was on the field for 55 games with 34 starts. He totaled 70 receptions for 854 yards with nine touchdowns. That includes 21 receptions for 248 yards and four TDs in 2025.
In two different rulings issued less than 15 months apart, the internal grievance system created by the NFL and the NFL Players Association found that, essentially, the NFL invited its teams to collude on the issue of fully-guaranteed contracts but the teams did not accept.
The first part is stunning, and in many ways unprecedented as it relates to the NFL. In response to the Deshaun Watson contract (five years, $230 million, fully guaranteed), the league sounded the alarm at the 2022 annual meeting.
From the notes of the presentation made to the teams in March 2022: "[I]f guarantees continue to grow in both amount and number of players, then there’s a risk that they become the norm in contracts regardless of player quality . . . That not only has the potential to hinder roster management but set a market standard that will be difficult to walk back. Of course, all Clubs must make their own decisions. But continuing these trends can handcuff a Club long into the future.”
The teams, per both the arbitrator and the three-person appeal panel, ignored this invitation/advice.
The appeals panel recognized that the teams will never admit to collusion, and that circumstantial evidence is “the coin of the[] realm” when it comes to proving it. The panel, however, found insufficient circumstantial evidence to prove that collusion occurred.
The panel dismissed expert testimony regarding the decrease in signing bonuses and guaranteed salary after the league invited the teams to collude. The panel rejected the basic, commonsensical idea that, if the league invited them to restrict guaranteed contracts and if guaranteed contracts were thereafter restricted, the teams must have followed the league’s advice.
It’s a myopic assessment of the real world that borders on the obtuse. The 32 teams operate as a league. They enjoy an antitrust exemption as to the player workforce through a multi-employer bargaining unit. The Collective Bargaining Agreement allows the teams to give players guaranteed contracts. The mere fact that the league would even broach the subject of the teams choosing to not do something the CBA allows them to do is, as the panel found, “improper.”
What other proof is needed to show that the league and the teams colluded?
Beyond that, the appeals panel acknowledged that the text-message exchange between Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill after the Cardinals managed to avoid giving quarterback Kyler Murray a fully-guaranteed contract was “inappropriate.” The panel somehow found that Spanos thanking Bidwill for “staying strong” when it comes to not giving Murray a fully-guaranteed contract was not proof of collusion but of an “isolated incident.”
Some would call that “isolated incident” a “smoking gun.”
The appeals ruling ignores the evidence of internal communications within the Broncos organization regarding their negotiations with quarterback Russell Wilson. From the original arbitration ruling, owner Greg Penner told other members of the team’s ownership group that “there’s not[h]ing in here that other owners will consider off market (e.g. like the Watson guarantees).” Later, Penner told his partners that G.M. George Paton “feels very good about it for us as a franchise and the benchmark it sets (versus Watson) for the rest of the league.”
Why would or should the Broncos care what other owners think? The mere fact that the concern was on the radar screen shows that the Broncos were worried about running afoul of the wink-nod understanding that teams would hold the rope on the issue of fully-guaranteed contracts after the Watson deal.
Although the panel did indeed find that the league invited teams to collude, what choice did it have? The NFL didn’t just say the quiet part out loud. It put it in writing! Anyone who understands how the NFL works knows what the message was, and how it was received. The Spanos-Bidwill texts confirm it, as do the internal Broncos communications.
And while the Ravens, per the panel, did indeed offer quarterback Lamar Jackson a pair of three-year fully-guaranteed contracts, he didn’t accept them. He wanted a five-year, fully-guaranteed deal, like the one Watson had gotten. The Ravens, to paraphrase Spanos, “stayed strong.”
Did the NFL invite the teams to collude? Yes. Did the teams thereafter accept the invitation? Hell yes.
The NFL suggesting that the teams refrain from doing something that the CBA allows them to do should have been enough. The Spanos-Bidwill texts should have been enough. The Broncos’ internal communications should have been enough.
Now that the league has dodged the collusion bullet, the NFL and its teams will learn from the experience. They’ll never put anything in writing that ever could be characterized as proof of collusion. And it will become even harder — if not impossible — for the NFLPA to prove collusion when it happens.
Even if it will happen. Because the facts of the failed grievance show, in our view, that it absolutely did.
Chris Payton-Jones, a former cornerback in the NFL and UFL, has died. He was 30.
Via Justin Barney of News4Jax, Payton-Jones was involved in a car accident on Saturday night.
Undrafted out of Nebraska in 2018, Payton-Jones played for the Cardinals, Lions, Vikings, and Titans. He appeared in 29 regular-season games, with six starts.
He played for the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL in 2023. He then played for the UFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks in 2024 and 2025.
“Chris was a beloved teammate and leader in the locker room, who demonstrated the importance of hard work, determination, and resilience throughout his career,” the UFL said in a statement. “As importantly, Chris was always a bright soul who everyone throughout the league enjoyed spending time with off-the-field during his three-year tenure.”
Payton-Jones had retired from football in January.
We extend our condolences to his family, friends, teammates, and coaches.
