Brad Penner/Associated Press
The Minnesota Vikings' Pro Bowl safety, Harrison Smith, has undergone a surgery to "clean up" a high left ankle sprain, reported Adam Caplan and Ben Goessling of ESPN.com.
The injury is not expected to impact the 2017 season at all.
Smith has established himself as one of the best safeties in the NFL over his first five seasons. While he didn't pick off a pass in 2016, he did register two sacks and anchored a defense that allowed the sixth-fewest yards.
Before the 2016 season started, Josh Liskiewitz of Pro Football Focus deemed Smith to be the best player at his position because of his ability to do everything on defense:
While arguments can be made that Kansas City's Eric Berry and Seattle's Earl Thomas are better pure-cover safeties, or that Miami's Reshad Jones is a better run-defender, Smith is the only safety besides Philadelphia's Malcolm Jenkins to finish in the top-10 in both run defense and coverage last year.