Vikings LB Cameron Smith might not be a household name, but his return to the practice field is still noteworthy. The 24-year-old, who missed the entire 2020 campaign due to open-heart surgery, has been medically cleared to play, as Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets.
Smith has had a tumultuous start to his pro career. Despite less than impressive measurables, his instincts and collegiate production as a four-year player at USC got the Vikings’ attention, and Minnesota selected him in the fifth round of the 2019 draft. He did not survive final cutdowns at the end of his first training camp, though he was quickly signed to the Vikes’ practice squad after he cleared waivers. He was promoted a few weeks later, saw action in a couple of games, and was waived again, only to end up back on the Vikings’ taxi squad before getting another promotion.
In all, he played five games in 2019, compiling eight tackles. Last August, during a COVID test, doctors discovered his heart condition. “COVID saved my life,” Smith said (Twitter link via Tomasson). The Vikings put him on waivers in a procedural move when they realized he would need heart surgery, and he subsequently reverted to season-ending IR (the club paid him his full $675K salary).
Now, Smith has rejoined his teammates, though he will still have an uphill battle to see significant burn on the defensive side of the ball. The Vikings are returning Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks, and Minnesota also nabbed North Carolina LB Chazz Surratt in the third round of this year’s draft. Surratt is likely the favorite to land the weakside ‘backer job alongside Barr and Kendricks, but Smith will try to push him for playing time. If nothing else, he could carve out a role on special teams.
Speaking of Barr, the four-time Pro Bowler was also back on the practice field this week, as Tomasson tweets. Barr missed all but two games of the 2020 season due to a torn pec, and he reworked his contract this offseason. He will now be eligible for free agency next March.
I wouldn’t count Smith out for the role of running downs specialist that Ben Gedeon had from 2017-2019. In fact, when Gedeon wasn’t medically cleared to return in 2020 – he’d suffered two concussions in 2019, not close to his first – Smith looked to be Gedeon’s replacement until his heart condition was discovered. How could I tell this? Because while Smith was preparing for his surgery, the team suddenly started trying out seemingly every free agent MLB and ILB left, finally settling on Hardy Nickerson, Jr., who ultimately did not prove up for the job. Still don’t know why the team didn’t sign Todd Davis as soon as either Gedeon or Smith were ruled out for the year, and only waited until Anthony Barr was injured. Davis probably would have been my first call as soon as either Ben or Cam were lost.
The 2020 run defense really missed Gedeon, who had missed eight games in 2019. In those eight games, the team gave up 40 more rushing yards per game and 0.6 more yards per carry (4.55 ypc vs. 3.95 ypc in the eight games with Gedeon). There were no other significant differences in personnel in the eight games Gedeon missed in 2019, and the opponents’ running games had nearly identical rushing attacks (yards and yards per carry). Last year, Eric Wilson was completely lost in trying to fill lanes and contain runners, and Troy Dye a disaster trying to tackle them (he had some flashes in coverage, though). Hopefully Smith or Nick Vigil can fill this critical rotational role for the team, while Dye gets the coverage snaps and Surratt spends a year focused on special teams.