Harrison Smith's safety sidekicks have come and gone with Vikings

For the better part of Mike Zimmer’s first three offseasons in Minnesota, as the Vikings adorned their defense with high-value assets, the safety position next to Harrison Smith felt like a bit of an outlier.

The Vikings held what amounted to an open audition for the job in Zimmer’s first training camp with the team, shuttling through names such as Jamarca Sanford, Mistral Raymond, Andrew Sendejo, Robert Blanton and Antone Exum. They released Kurt Coleman at the end of training camp — a year before he’d tie for third in the NFL with seven interceptions — and brought former Bengals safety Chris Crocker out of retirement before cutting Crocker at the end of camp.

Blanton won the job that first…