in 2015, Vikings safety Harrison Smith enters the fourth year of his contract. If the 29th pick in 2012 had been selected four spots lower, it would be the final year of his contract.
Thanks to the fifth-year option, it’s not.
“I’m obviously not a fan of the fifth-year option,” Smith said Monday, via Mark Craig of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “Agents and teams know a lot more than I do, but it does kind of seem like a weird deal for the first-rounders. I just think that part of the CBA was poorly done.”
Guys taken at the bottom of round one definitely should feel that way. Which always makes it better to be the first guy taken in round two than the last guy taken in round one.
Of course, the Vikings could sign Smith to a new deal at any time. For now, it looks like they won’t be.
“Nothing is going on,” Smith said. “As far as what my agents have told me and what I’ve talked to [General Manager] Rick [Spielman] about is we’re going to hold off on those and focus on playing good football and go from there.”
With two years left on his contract, the Vikings may not be comfortable shifting the injury risk from Smith to the team until he gets through his fourth NFL season healthy enough to cash in. From the team’s perspective, that makes sense. From the player’s perspective, that fifth-year option could be keeping him from getting paid now.
And that’s the biggest problem with the fifth-year option. By keeping the player from the market for an extra year, it necessarily keeps the team from feeling a sense of urgency to get him signed to an extension.
