Josh Metellus fought his way to new contract extension
EAGAN — Matt Daniels was so excited to talk about Josh Metellus’s contract extension that he fist pumped during his comments about the fourth-year safety signing for a reported two years, $13 million.
Metellus was selected by the Vikings in the sixth round of the 2020 draft and worked his way through the special teams ranks to get an opportunity last season to play 261 defensive snaps. During training camp he has become a mainstay on Brian Flores’s unit, playing in hybrid linebacker and safety positions.
Daniels recalled the 25-year-old safety speaking with the team during training camp about his journey from the bottom of the roster to having an opportunity to become a valuable player on defense.
“He talked about the adversity that he went through,” Daniels said. “For him to start off his career like that, be released and end up on the practice squad and find a way to the football field and find his niche on special teams and have the unbelievable year he had [last year] on [special teams] and stepping in when Harrison [Smith] was out and contributing and having an impact there. I tell the group all the time that if you do the work the money will come…. It’s a true testament to who Josh Metellus is as a player and the dedication that he has, the type of teammate that he is, he’s as unselfish as anybody comes in this building.”
The Vikings’ new defensive coordinator called it a “joy” to be around Metellus this spring and summer. Flores said that his small number of snaps from 2022 stuck out on tape and he was “intrigued” by his skillset. Flores also heard when he took the job about Metellus’s work ethic and value in the locker room.
“He’s a guy who loves football, he’s smart, he can play a few different positions, just a good overall football player,” Flores said. Good teammate, very willing to help younger players. He wants to know every piece of information, from a coaching standpoint and understanding… why we do things just so he can make himself better.”
It was clear from the start of training camp that Flores and Metellus were going to be a good fit for each other. Metellus said that his versatility played into getting more playing time under the Vikings’ DC.
“When you have a guy who can do a lot of things and pick up the system fast and take control when he’s out there, I think that helps the defense a lot,” Metellus said. “I played a lot of different positions just trying to get on the field, who knew that would help me going into this year?”
Daniels added that Metellus will still be playing on all phases of special teams despite increasing his role on defense.
“He’s going to still be carrying out the same role in the same exact phases even though the amount of snaps he’s going to take on defense will be heavily increased from what it was a year ago,” Daniels said. “He wants those reps, he doesn’t want to be out of any phase or rep.”
One of the things that the young safety did this offseason to prepare for the expanded workload was adjust his conditioning. He starts every day with a 2-3 mile run and then does extra work on the exercise bike and breathing drills later on in the day in addition to his regular lifting.
“I knew that I would be in this position so I had to get my conditioning up in the offseason,” Metellus said. “I’m figuring out very fast that it was the right choice because it will be a lot of running and a lot of playing.”
Metellus said he couldn’t sleep on Wednesday night because of his excitement over the deal. He talked about a wall in his house where he and his wife write their goals and his new deal allows him to cross one of his major goals off the list. The next one is to become an every-down player on defense.
“I’ve had goals since I’ve been in the league and what mark I want to leave and that’s one of them, I want to be a full-down starter, I want to play all 80 or however many snaps a game and I’ll work toward those goals,” Metellus said. “This is a step in the right direction.
