EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — Harrison Smith, just like anyone approaching middle age, has learned to accept the realities of getting older. The joints, for one, don’t quite move as effortlessly as they once did.
So that’s where the 14th-year free safety for the has aimed his recent training regimens, customizing resistance exercises to simulate the stress that games can place on critical areas of the body.
Reaching at full extension to make a tackle at full speed puts the arm muscles and tendons in a vulnerable position. The more fluidly the elbow can bend, the better.
“All the strength work in the world isn’t really going to translate to real strength on the field if your joints don’t have the range they once did, especially range under load,” Smith said. “I’ve come up with different ways to work out that aren’t necessarily just the traditional banging weights around. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but if you don’t have your range ready, it’s kind of almost counterproductive.”
In a sport with notoriously short careers, as salary cap constraints perpetually conspire with constant injury risk and overall physical decline, the fountain of youth can seem like a unicorn. Smith’s approach provides some valuable clues for finding the most vital source: wisdom.
“When you meet Harrison Smith, right away you understand why he might be the type of person to defy odds, and he’s done nothing short of convincing us that over these few years,” Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said.
The sturdy 30
From a famous quarterback like dropping back in the pocket to a steady six-time Pro Bowl pick like Smith patrolling the secondary, the young man’s league still has some space for gray hair. But sticking around takes more than just determination and talent.
“I feel great, actually. I don’t feel like a 37-year-old. Not sure what they’re supposed to feel like, but I feel a little younger,” San Francisco 49ers left tackle Trent Williams said at the beginning of training camp. “As we get older, things start to change. I think you’ve got to pay a little bit more attention to what you put in your body, how you treat your body. Moreso than just being a football player, it’s just a natural maturation of a human being. When you get older you can’t do the same things you did when you were 22.”
According to an Associated Press review of the 90-man rosters across the league last week, there are 30 players currently with an NFL club who were born in the 1980s. That’s barely 1%. Not only has Generation X been long gone from the game, once Tom Brady retired in 2023, but Millennials are already in the minority.
Rodgers, of course, is the oldest active player at 41, followed by New York Jets kicker Nick Folk (40) and Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco (40). The sturdy 30 includes six long snappers, two punters and two kickers, plus nine quarterbacks — the positions that usually produce the longest-lasting players.
“You have to evolve every single year,” Kansas City Chiefs tight Travis Kelce said.
Smith is the lone defensive back. Kelce is the only offensive skill-position player who’s not a quarterback. Williams and Arizona Cardinals left tackle Kelvin Beachum, now a backup, are the offensive linemen. Demario Davis of the New Orleans Saints and Nick Bellore of the Washington Commanders, who plays almost exclusively on special teams, are the linebackers. Then there’s a well-decorated group of five defensive linemen: Calais Campbell (Arizona Cardinals), Cameron Heyward (Pittsburgh Steelers), John Jenkins (Baltimore Ravens), Cameron Jordan (New Orleans Saints) and Von Miller (Washington Commanders).
“I still feel great. I feel like I can go out there and dominate,” said Campbell, who returned this year to his original team, the Cardinals. “I wish I had a magic formula. I think I’ve just been blessed. God’s given me a lot of blessings to play this game I love.”
Grinding it out
The list has been trimmed, naturally, from last season. Nine players — tight end Marcedes Lewis, kickers Matt Prater, Justin Tucker and Greg Zuerlein, long snappers Jake McQuaide and Matt Overton, safety Kareem Jackson, defensive end Jerry Hughes and defensive tackle Linval Joseph — who logged time on the field in 2024 have not signed with a team this year.
Their peers still grinding through summer practices fully realize they’ll be permanently on the sideline sooner than later.
“I start a lot earlier doing my training. Just listen to my body when I need to take a rest,” Heyward said. “But it’s more just trying to get stronger as soon as possible after the season. Less time to recover, but recovering through the process.”
Mastering the art of recovery, forever a moving target, is a primary focus. Moving around on Mondays after games can be a chore, but figuring out how to maximize those summer strength and conditioning sessions for a mid-30s player is also a challenge.
Smith, a soft-spoken leader who’d much rather have a deep locker-room conversation about life in professional football than give the defense a rah-rah pregame speech, fields more questions from young players about recovery than any other topic.
“Sometimes you just grind it out and you don’t feel good, and that’s how it is,” said Smith, who also mixes in pickup basketball with his offseason work in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Pride and perspective are part of the NFL roadmap for longevity, too. Heyward’s oldest son, 9-year-old Callen, has spent a few nights with him in his dorm room.
“There’s a hunger there that I know I’m in a rare group that gets to see year 15, but it’s something I constantly think about,” Heyward said. “There’s things I want to check off before I hang them up, and I haven’t reached those goals yet.“
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AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow and AP Sports Writers David Brandt, Will Graves, Brett Martel, Noah Trister and David Skretta contributed.
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