Vikings roster preview: A jack of all trades, how can Minnesota best utilize Josh Metellus?

As we head toward a new season, Inside the Vikings is looking at each member of the 53-man roster to recap their 2023-24 season and look ahead to the upcoming campaign. Today, we focus on “safety” Josh Metellus. Check out our past stories on each member of the offense , the punter competition , kicker Will Reichard , the interior defensive linemen , the edges , inside linebackers and safeties Harrison Smith and Camryn Bynum .

Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is known as one of the most creative defensive minds in football, someone who loves to scheme up different looks and ways to keep offenses off-balance.

To do that effectively, some versatility is required. Safety Harrison Smith has been great throughout his career at coming down and blitzing or creeping up to the line only to sprint back in coverage. The Vikings also have some linebackers and edges capable both in coverage and rushing the passer, like Ivan Pace Jr. and offseason addition Andrew Van Ginkel.

Related: Vikings roster preview: How much does Harrison Smith have left in the tank?

And yet, while all of those players have excelled for various lengths of time and are great assets to Flores and the Vikings defense, it’s impossible to highlight versatile defenders and not mention Josh Metellus.

The 26-year-old was a sixth-round draft pick in the 2020 NFL Draft as a safety, then rose to a special teams ace and is now a team captain and jack of all trades.

While he excelled on special teams, Metellus had only played sparingly on defense over his first three seasons. Yet, last September, a few days before the season-opener, the Vikings signed him to a two-year extension worth up to $13 million that kicks in this year. Flores, in his first year in Minnesota, immediately made use of Metellus, making him a full-time starter and Swiss Army knife for his defense.

While he’s considered a safety, still, Metellus doesn’t really fit any traditional positional label.

He started over 200 snaps along the defensive line last season. His teammate Smith did that over 180 times but no other safety even did that 100 times. For reference, that figure would also rate third-most among linebackers last season.

Metellus also lined up in the box on 377 snaps, ninth-most among safeties and more typical of a linebacker. But that was the 14th-lowest figure among linebackers who played at least 300 snaps, so the linebacker label doesn’t really fit Metellus either. Plus, he lined up in the slot nearly 400 times, which would blow every other linebacker out of the water and was even second-most among safeties last year.

But he’s not a corner, either, as he only played 29 snaps there (still 12th-most among safeties and second among linebackers), roughly half as many as he lined up back at safety. Oh, and he still semi-regularly played special teams.

He can truly do it all.

Rush the passer? Check. Metellus had 116 pass-rushing snaps last season, most among safeties. Smith had 99 but, besides them, no other safety rushed more than 55 times. On those snaps, Metellus generated:

• 29 pressures (most among safeties) — Antoine Winfield Jr. was second with 18
• 7 quarterback hits (most among safeties or second among linebackers)
• 3 sacks (tied for second-most among safeties)

Stop the run? Check. Metellus last season racked up:

• 86 tackles (ninth-most among safeties or 23rd among linebackers)
• 45 stops — tackles constituting a “failure” for the offense (most among safeties or 25th among linebackers)
• 4 forced fumbles (second-most among safeties, behind only Winfield, or tied for most by a linebacker)

Need someone in coverage? Check. Metellus was the most-targeted (97) safety or linebacker and gave up the most catches among those positions (84), with his 86.6% receiving rate allowed in the top-10 among both positions. He’s not a lockdown corner, but he also isn’t as bad as those numbers appear, as he also had:

• The 15th-lowest yards per catch rate allowed (8.9) among safeties or 35th-lowest among linebackers
• A 9.3% missed tackle rate, down from past years but still among the 30 lowest rates by a safety and 35 lowest by a linebacker
• 3 pass breakups, tied for the 36th-most among safeties or 20th-most among linebackers
• 1 interception

Even without further improvement, he’s a starting-level linebacker or safety in coverage and run defense, a top-five pass-rusher at safety and a special teams ace. With further improvement, well, his value obviously grows and could make him even more versatile.

Plus, he’s on a contract that ranks outside the 30 highest-paid safeties in the NFL.

While some of his Pro Football Focus grades took a little hit last year as he jumped into a starting role, moving all over the place, he still graded out as the league’s 33rd-best safety out of 95 qualifying players.

Aside from his versatility, Flores has raved about Metellus’ work ethic and love for the game, which makes it pretty plausible that he’ll improve. When asked earlier this month what more Metellus can do, he deadpanned, saying “I mean, you got an hour?”

Flores has noted it’s not just a one-person game but admitted that Metellus allows him to be “as creative as you want to be,” although that can also get the Vikings in trouble at times if offenses exploit him in bad matchups.

That’s why it’s important to note to not only have Metellus do everything but find ways to utilize his skill set in ways that play to the overall defense’s strengths.

How Flores and the Vikings will do that in 2024 has yet to be seen but you can bet Metellus will be heavily involved each gameday once again.