Pro Football Rumors

Vikings safety Josh Metellus was heading into the 2025 NFL season on a contract year with a $6.54MM cap hit. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the team has secured the defender long term by signing him to a three-year, $36MM extension.

Adding onto the end of his current deal, the extension keeps Metellus under contract through the 2028 season. Per Schefter, Metellus’ new deal comes with $25MM in guaranteed money and has a potential maximum value of $42MM with contract incentives.

Coming out of Minnesota’s 15-man 2020 draft class, Metellus is one of three players drafted by the team that year to still be on the roster — the other two being Justin Jefferson and backup offensive lineman Blake Brandel.

For much of his first two seasons, Metellus was a special teamer, coming off the bench for significant snaps for the first time in the final game of his sophomore campaign. He played a similar role in 2022, but three Harrison Smith absences allowed Metellus to showcase what he could contribute as a starter. He looked good in his first glimpses with the first team, catching an interception in the first start of his career.

Already, in 2022, the Vikings were beginning to see the potential and versatility Metullus offered to the defense. Most of his snaps came at safety, but he spent about 40 percent of his time on the field roaming into the box or the slot or, occasionally, lining up as an edge rusher or outside cornerback. In 2023, Minnesota made a call that it could no longer allow starters Smith and Camryn Bynum to keep Metellus off the field.

All three safeties started 17 games that season and led the team in defensive snaps played. Bynum worked most often as the deep safety, Smith split his time between the defensive outfield and the box, and Metellus roamed the slot, the box, and the edge in near equal quantities. In fact, aside from outside cornerback, where he logged 29 snaps, Metellus’ least seen position was safety (55 snaps). Playing all over the field in the first year of a two-year, $8MM extension and his first year as a full-time starter, Metellus delivered all over the field. His 116 total tackles were second to only Bynum, and he added 2.5 sacks, seven tackles for loss, 10 quarterback hits, an interception returned for 43 yards, five passes defensed, and four forced fumbles to boot.

In 2024, Metellus logged fewer starts, but his usage remained the same as he continued to share the field with Smith and Bynum in equal shares. The 2024 season saw Metellus diversify a little less, spending under 100 snaps at edge, outside corner, and safety, but he spent about half his snaps in the box and a quarter in the slot. Once again, he finished second on the team with 103 total tackles, and he logged two tackles for loss, six quarterback hits, two interceptions, five passes defensed, and one forced fumble for good measure.

In 2025, the Vikings will be without their deep safety after Bynum signed a four-year, $60MM deal with the Colts. The backups behind Metellus and Smith — Jay Ward, Theo Jackson, and Mishael Powell — are all young and inexperienced, so Metellus may be making a move back into a more traditional safety spot. Smith will likely take back a free safety role, after playing a bit more strong safety when Bynum was in the picture, while Metellus works as the primary strong safety, allowing him to drift up into the box or slot when necessary.

The idea of an extension for Metellus and outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel was first floating around the rumor mill in the days after the Super Bowl. Van Ginkel got his done in May, and after the team addressed an extension for tight end Josh Oliver in June, Metellus became the next focus.

Metellus had missed the first two days of practice in training camp, and while that now looks like he was pushing for an extension, head coach Kevin O’Connell assured the media that they “were being honest” about an ankle injury being the reason for his absences, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. Regardless, a little payday should make him feel better. He’s expected to sit out Saturday practices and return to the field on Monday under his new contract. He’s already outperformed his sixth-round draft slot and his $8MM extension; now, the Vikings will be hoping he can take another step and outperform this one, as well.