Vikings Camp Journal: Day 4

Josh Metellus and the Vikings worked out a contract extension on Saturday

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — The Minnesota Vikings held their most eventful and energetic practice of the year to date. Let’s dive into all the takeaways…

What I heard

The trend with the Minnesota Vikings over the last few years has been that contract drama is short lived. Whether it was Danielle Hunter’s hold-in or TJ Hockenson’s ear ache/back injury or Justin Jefferson or the head coach or GM, this franchise has figured out ways to get deals done. That turned out to be the case with safety Josh Metellus as well.

On the fourth day of training camp, the Vikings announced that Metellus agreed to a three-year extension.

“Since I've been here, such a vital part of our success on and off the field,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “It's hard to imagine them making them any better as a player in person than Josh Metellus. What he means to me personally, our friendship, our bond we’ve formed. Absolutely thrilled for Josh.”

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the deal is worth $36 million with a max value of $42 million and $25 million guaranteed. The deal lands in between the price tags of two safeties who signed in free agency this offseason, New Orleans’ Justin Reid ($10.5 million per year) and Tre’von Moehrig ($17 million).

Over the past two years, Metellus has developed from a part-time player and key special teamer to an every-down captain who is among the most versatile players in the NFL. Last season he played 493 snaps in the box either at linebacker or safety and 320 snaps as a slot corner. Metellus also mixed in 62 reps as a D-lineman and 84 as a deep safety.

The versatility aspect of his game may have played a role in the delay getting the deal done because there weren’t too many players around the league with his usage profile.

“At the end of the day, we figured it out,” Metellus said. “I think that's something that Kwesi [Adofo-Mensah] and Drew [Rosenhaus] had to figure out what was: what do we like to put at the top? What matters the most, really? And at the end of the day, football is football….So at the end of the day… diversity, that's just who I am as a player.”

For Metellus, it is a particularly special day because he has taken the long road to becoming a key part of the franchise. In 2020 he was drafted in the sixth round and did not make the team out of camp. There was no preseason that year and his future was unclear. It wasn’t until his fourth year in the league that he saw an opportunity to play regularly.

“I think that moment alone helped shape me into who I am today,” Metellus said. “Having that mindset that nothing in this world is given to you, especially in this league, you have to go earn everything that you want.”

He continued…

“And for me to stand here and be that voice and be that front face for guys in the locker room right now who feel like they weren't seen. You come out to these practices and you have a good practice, but you go into the film room and coaches don't even say your name or you're not looked at. I just always tell those guys, just keep going. Have that confidence.”

As far as the present goes, we have seen a tweak to that usage during the first few days of training camp with Metellus replacing Cam Bynum in the free safety spot alongside Harrison Smith. O’Connell addressed how he sees Metellus’ role going forward:

“His role is wildly dynamic, but he's proven to be able to handle the deep part of the field, play man-to-man coverage on some tight ends and slots,” O’Connell said. “ We play big nickel with five DBs out there with three safeties. We're excited about where Theo's at as well and the rest of our safeties…..[we have a] flexible defense that you can be really in any spot at any time and you’ve got to go play.”

Go play, indeed. Metellus’ contract was the last one with any questions about it for this offseason.

Speaking of the secondary, I asked O’Connell what he wants to see from the cornerback unit once the pads come on Monday and the physicality ramps up.

“You've already seen [physicality] with Jeff Okudah,” O’Connell said. “He can really in a condensed space make it hard on receivers. In fact, the one turnover JJ's had and went that off the tip ball to Harrison, that was off of a hard reroute from Okudah and then timing the play got thrown off and we're kind of off our footwork and the read progression were just totally thrown off because one guy jammed the primary target and that was Jeff Okudah. SI want to continue to see that.”

As far as the rest of the group, O’Connell had high praise for offseason addition Isaiah Rodgers.

“Isaiah Rogers…he's already demonstrated why we really wanted to bring him here,” O’Connell said. “Probably one of the faster players on our team, ultra consistent, confident, just never, never off balance, never panics. And I think that's gonna bode really well when you pair that skill set outside with the way we can pressure the quarterback.”

O’Connell added that Mekhi Blackmon has “looked good coming back.” Thus far, Blackmon has exclusively been with the second team since coming off an ACL tear last year in camp. Zemaiah Vaughn and Dwight McGlothern have been mixing in with the second unit as well.

What I saw

The first day without Justin Jefferson started out well for JJ McCarthy. During the first 11-on-11 period, he hit Jalen Nailor on a 20(ish)-yard out route. He showed exceptional touch and timing on the throw, which drew a reaction from O’Connell when McCarthy came back to the sideline.

He followed that up with another intermediate throw across the middle of the field that was caught by TJ Hockenson at full speed.

McCarthy had some bumps during the red zone period and then had one portion of full practice where two of his throws nose-dived into the ground but he came back strong with his best play of the day. After getting the defense to jump offside, McCarthy knew that he had a free play so he let the ball fly 40-45 yards downfield to a streaking Nailor. The fourth-year receiver went up to grab the ball and it hit him right in the hands and fell to the ground. It couldn’t have been any better execution and awareness from McCarthy.