Vikings Have a “Prime Extension Candidate”
The Minnesota Vikings have already handed out a well-deserved contract extension this offseason when they gave Andrew Van Ginkel an additional season ahead of his contract year. He’s now signed through the 2026 campaign and got a nice little raise in the process.
Vikings Have a “Prime Extension Candidate”
More extensions could follow as we reach OTAs. Josh Metellus has developed into a cornerstone of Minnesota’s defense, and he’s in the final season of his deal.
NFL.com’s Underappreciated Player
NFL.com’s Gennaro Filice recently named one underappreciated player for each team, and the versatile defender was his choice for the purple club.
He wrote: “With his impressive renovation of Minnesota’s defense over the past two seasons, Brian Flores has established himself as one of the most esteemed coordinators in football today. But one of his key cogs hasn’t received the national shine he deserves. The Vikings’ second-leading tackler in each of the past two seasons, Metellus is the chess piece Flores moves all over the board.”
Flores arrived and immediately promoted Metellus. His versatility is a big part of the defense and makes it hard for offenses to decipher. He can line up all over the field and do every job imaginable.
Filice added: “Currently in the final year of his contract, Metellus feels like a prime extension candidate, given his Swiss Army Knife role in Flores’ attacking defense.”
Vikings Career
Metellus was drafted in the sixth round of the 2020 draft. Unlike fellow draftee Justin Jefferson, the defender was not an immediate star and had to work his way up the depth chart. The Michigan product was waived in his first year and stashed on the practice squad. A couple of weeks later, the Vikings promoted him to the 53-man roster.
He played in 15 games in his debut season, primarily on special teams. He has been fantastic in the third phase to this day and still regularly appears in Matt Daniels’ unit despite his increased role on defense.
After playing a total of 70 defensive snaps in the first two seasons, Skol Nation got the first glimpse of Metellus’ defensive skills in 2022 when he started in place of the injured Harrison Smith and played quite well.
His real breakout came when Flores became the new defensive coordinator, and he wanted to get the best players on the field. Metellus was one of those and quickly got a full-time job. In the last two seasons, Metellus played 1,065 and 991 defensive snaps, respectively, while still playing over 400 total snaps on special teams.
Not only is his workload impressive, but so is his play. Metellus is famous for playing all over the defense. He can line up at the line of scrimmage, in the box, as a deep safety, and at cornerback. The defender has yet to earn any accolades, perhaps even because of his versatility and lack of a clear job description.
Big Raise?
Due to his excellent play, he surely deserves a big raise. If he ends up playing out his contract, he will have made a total of $13,162,658 for six seasons of his service, and one could argue that’s about as much as he’s worth in a single season nowadays. He’s currently playing on a two-year rookie contract extension he signed in 2023. That’s paying him $8 million.
General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah smartly extended Metellus’ contract before he had ever played a big role on defense, and $4 million per season for a special teamer and low-end rotational player on defense made sense.
However, he has effortlessly outplayed his deal, and the Vikings usually take care of their players by paying them what they’re worth.
A couple of safeties make north of $20 million a year, and eight others have a deal worth at least $15 million per season, including departed safety Cam Bynum, Metellus’ dance partner, who headed to Indianapolis in this year’s free agency.
A total of 18 safeties earn at least $10 million per season. Metellus surely belongs in that group. He won’t be cheap, but he has earned it.
Metellus turned 27 in January. Barring a new deal, he will become an unrestricted free agent next March.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.