MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota Vikings linebacker Cameron Smith has said he will miss the 2020 NFL season due to a congenital heart condition he only discovered after positive testing for COVID-19.
Smith, a pick in the fifth round in 2019, announced Saturday that he will have to undergo open heart surgery to repair a bicuspid aortic valve. It is a procedure he did not know he needed until he tested positive for the coronavirus and underwent further testing.
“While this will unfortunately end my 2020 season, it is truly a blessing that we found this because my heart is badly enlarged and would not have lasted much longer,” Smith wrote in an Instagram post.
The linebacker said the operation would allow him to continue playing football once cured and that he “did not think twice about going through this.”
Smith was a four-year starter at USC, where he tackled a total of 354 tackles for the Trojans and earned All-Pac-12 honors in three seasons. He appeared in just five games for the Vikings in his rookie year and scored eight tackles.
Minnesota added linebacker depth on Saturday by signing former Raiders linebacker Quentin Poling. The team was waiting for Tony Brooks-James to return as the corresponding move.
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