Matthew Coller: Josh Metellus's captaincy speaks volumes about how far he's come

At this time last year, Josh Metellus's role was unclear. Now he's a defensive captain and one of the most important pieces on defense...

Josh Metellus / Minnesota Vikings

EAGAN — When Brian O’Neill suffered an injury in 2022, the Minnesota Vikings named special teamer Josh Metellus an interim captain in his place. Prior to the 2023 season, Metellus was voted again as a captain with the expectation that he would be one of the guys leading the special teams and working his way into the defensive lineup. After 1,063 snaps in 2023 on defense, the 2020 sixth-round draft pick was named one of three defensive captains on Wednesday along with Harrison Phillips and Harrison Smith.

“That means the world to me,” Metellus told Purple Insider. “It’s the best honor you can receive as a player especially on a player-driven vote as a captain vote is. You get that from your peers, that sense of leadership and trust means a lot.”

The road to reach captain status as a star defensive player was not easy. Metellus was cut out of his first camp and assigned to the practice squad. After a few weeks on the PS, he was bumped up to the active roster to play on special teams. He ended up with 257 snaps on four phases of ‘teams, which helped the former Michigan standout stick on the squad the following season in a full-time special teams role but he only saw 70 defensive snaps in his first two years.

It wasn’t until 2022 Week 3 when Harrison Smith got injured that Metellus put his name on the map as a potential impact player on defense. He played 78 snaps in a win over the Lions and registered an 82.7 PFF grade. But he didn’t play more than 12 snaps again until Week 14.

Finally when Brian Flores arrived in 2023, the defensive coordinator saw something in Metellus that made him think that he could play a lot more than 259 plays. The 26-year-old safety played 57 snaps in the opener in seven different spots and since then he’s become one of the most unique defensive players in the league and one of the Vikings’ most important players on defense.

For All-Pro Harrison Smith, Metellus being named captain as a defensive is demonstrative of his stick-to-itiveness.

“It speaks to him and his journey and who he is as a player and a teammate,” Smith told Purple Insider. “He’s everything you want in a football player. He got cut, didn’t phase him and he kept playing. Excelled on special teams. He made a case to see the field earlier than he did and he just kept playing hard. Made a huge impact last year, he was all over the place.”

Smith continued…

“When you care about something as much as he does about this to grind every day with out seeing immediate benefits and sticking to the plan, a lot of us can learn from that approach. When opportunities come then you are ready for them. It’s a great example of that.”

Smith, a captain himself, said this year was particularly special getting the nod because the team created a space inside TCO Performance Center to honor captains and give a nod to 14-time captain Jim Marshall’s legacy.

“Knowing who [Marshall] is and how we went about things, I don’t take that lightly,” Smith said. “Being a trusted teammate and a leader…doing the right stuff, taking care of business, being a guy that somebody can call you up and tell you to meet them somewhere six months from now and you show up. That is the essence of it. Doing stuff that goes unseen… I’m not a rah-rah guy but I lead in my own way. Be true to yourself. Find where you fit into that mix.”

Head coach Kevin O’Connell said that the team voted nearly unanimously for Metellus as a captain and that he’s the type of player who “sets the tone” inside the building.

O’Connell also made sure to point out something about Metellus’s game: Because he had success last season playing a multiple role under Flores, a lot of the attention on him was focused on where he fit in the scheme as true hybrid player rather than on Metellus’s actual skills.

“We make a lot out of his fit in our defense, and that's great in all but Josh is just a really good football player,” O’Connell said. “He's a really good safety. He's a really good tackler. He's a really good cover player. Versatile to do a lot of different things off the charts from a football smarts standpoint, how he communicates with Cam [Bynum] and Harry [Smith] and the rest of the defense, the ability to play so many parts in the defense. That's where I just don't want to get lost in the system fit.”

From a numbers perspective, Metellus led all safeties in QB pressures and run stops in 2023 and despite being targeted the most of any player at his position he gave up the 10th lowest yards per completion.

Metellus’s role could evolve this year. The Vikings likely want to see Byron Murphy Jr. play in the slot more often with Stephon Gilmore and Shaq Griffin as outside corners. The addition of Blake Cashman at linebacker increases the versatility as well. If Flores reduces Smith’s snap count at all this year, it’s possible Metellus could play a traditional safety role more often.

One thing they know: He’ll be ready for anything because he’s worked through everything to be in this position.

“I pride myself in being a leader and be out on the front line leading by example,” Metellus said. “Being a professional, people cling to it and I want to be that driving force.”

Additional notes

— Jordan Addison and Jalen Nailor were both limited in practice with ankle injuries. Kevin O’Connell indicated that Addison will get ramped up later in the week and has a good chance to play on Sunday. O’Connell said Blake Cashman, who missed some time with a finger injury, will be good to go. He was not on the injury report.

— KOC talked about his plan for continuing to help JJ McCarthy develop despite not being able to play this season, including getting together with him to talk about the offense.

“I want his teammates to see him every day. I want him in meetings. I'm going to meet with him personally one day a week and make sure that I can be personally challenging him on his ownership of the game plans, the why behind things we're doing, play intent for me, making sure he's still having a major role leadership wise with especially that young rookie class that, between undrafted guys and guys we drafted, feel very strong about their impact on our team. But, I want J.J. to feel like he's a support system for Sam [Darnold], part of the quarterback room that culture of that quarterback room, but at the same time, bigger picture making sure we don't waste one moment where you know there could be some growth and development and really continue the positive momentum that I think a lot of us saw in training camp before the injury.”

Darnold also talked about how McCarthy is handling the early parts of his recovery: “His attitude's great. He’s always trying to learn; I think that’s the biggest thing. He’s in the training room reading books all the time, doing whatever he can to keep his mind sharp right now. He’s just always in good spirits and I think everyone on this team appreciates that about him.”

— The last time the Vikings played the Giants was January 2022 and they had a different defensive coordinator then but O’Connell said that those two matchups two years ago still have relevance toward the preparation for Sunday’s game.

“I think his impact on how they've played previously against us, could show up a little bit. But at the same time, a lot of the players, when you talk about Dexter Lawrence, you talk about [Kayvon] Thibodeaux , you talk about, Adoree’ Jackson and some of these guys that we've played against in that uniform, in that albeit a different scheme, but X's and O's aside, personnel still matters and we've got to be prepared to play a bunch of really good players on Sunday.”