The Vikings have reached a point where the safety room is simply too shaky to keep a healthy rookie glued to the sideline.
Harrison Smith and Josh Metellus have both struggled badly this season, with Pro Football Focus ranking Smith dead last and Metellus sixth-worst among NFL safeties. That’s a ugly spot for a defense that has still managed success under coordinator Brian Flores, but it also screams for a change.
Minnesota may already have one waiting on the roster in Jakobe Thomas.
The Vikings took Thomas with the 98th overall pick in April, yet he has not played a single snap this season. He was inactive for all five games before the bye, and that makes his chances of being available against the Colts in Week 7 look uncertain.
Thomas missed time after dealing with a back injury in training camp, then got into just one preseason game while working his way back. Against the Broncos, he finished with five tackles, including three solo stops. PFF gave him a 79.4 tackling grade in that game, second-best among Vikings defenders, and a 66.0 run defense grade that ranked seventh on the team.
With the rookie now healthy and the Vikings needing help in a hurry, there’s no reason to keep him out on game day.
Even if Minnesota starts by using him on special teams, the value is there. Getting Thomas, the former Miami (FL) and Tennessee defensive back, live snaps would give him a chance to get acclimated and build toward a bigger role later on.
That possibility was reinforced on Friday, when Andrew Krammer of the Minnesota Star Tribune reported on Thomas and included a comment from special teams coordinator Matt Daniels. Thomas has apparently been asking when he’ll finally get into a regular-season game.
The 23-year-old clearly wants the opportunity. And with Smith and Metellus both underperforming, the Vikings also need to ease the burden on Theo Jackson.
Jackson has logged 191 defensive snaps this season and owns the best PFF grade among Minnesota safeties at 63.7. Even that only puts him 41st out of 98 qualifying safeties across the league, which shows just how much room there is for improvement.
At this point, the next move feels obvious: get Thomas active in Week 7 and let him start building toward the future. If Minnesota wants Flores’s defense to stay among the NFL’s most feared groups, the rookie safety needs real game action.
In Other News...
Justin Herbert Is Suddenly At Center Of A Chargers Debate
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Herbert has been productive through his first six seasons, which is exactly why any hint of uncertainty around his future gets so much attention. For the Vikings, the connection is obvious enough to keep resurfacing, even with Murray now in place, because front offices around the league know how quickly a quarterback discussion can change when a player of Herberts caliber is involved and the Chargers have yet to make their long-term intentions clear. [Read more 🡒]
Harrison Smith Just Turned A Vikings Fear Into A Real Conversation
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Smith has been on the field for all five games so far this season, which only sharpens the reality for the Vikings as they watch one of their most familiar defensive anchors move toward the end. There is still a full season ahead before the goodbye becomes real, but his comments turned what had been a looming fear into an actual conversation about succession, legacy and how Minnesota handles life after one of its most dependable players. [Read more 🡒]
Daniel Jones Returns To Minnesota With A Familiar Vikings Storyline
Daniel Jones is heading back to U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday with the Indianapolis Colts, adding another layer to a Vikings story that has followed him for years. The former Giants quarterback has already had a memorable afternoon in Minnesota, and his career since then has been a mix of high points, injuries and stretches of uneven play, making this trip feel like another checkpoint in a stop-and-start NFL arc.
Jones arrives with Indianapolis still sorting through major change after recently firing general manager Chris Ballard, while the quarterback himself remains under contract as the Colts try to steady things around him. For Vikings fans, his return is a reminder of a familiar opponent who has been part of some of the franchises recent highs and lows, even as the broader storyline around his career is still very much in motion. [Read more 🡒]