Vikings Star Gets Honest About Missing Practice Amid Contract Dispute

It was out of character for Minnesota Vikings safety Josh Metellus to be missing from the practice field for voluntary OTAs a week ago.

However, a trend has continued for the Vikings team captain and emotional leader of the team, who sat out 7-on-7s during mandatory minicamps on Tuesday.

The assumption: Metellus, in the final year of his contract, is looking for a new deal.

After practice on Wednesday, June 11, Metellus addressed his absence from team activities.

"It's all good, that's part of the process right now. I mean, the coaches, front office, everybody understands, you know, situation I’m here," Metellus told KSTP's Darren Wolfson on June 11. "I’m building that chemistry with my new teammates and the old teammates, and I’m here being the same guy I am all the time. So you guys know me. It ain’t nothing change.”

Two summers ago, the Vikings proactively signed Metellus to a two-year, $8 million extension with the hopes that he would seize a prominent role in the first year under Brian Flores.

He did that, and then some. 

After starting just three games in three years as a 2020 sixth-round pick, Metellus has started 27 games and surpassed 1,000 defensive snaps each of the past two seasons since Flores arrived.

Metellus has become an integral part of the Flores' amoebic defense that lines versatile players all over the field. Metellus is arguably the defense's most versatile player, capable of lining up at over a dozen positions as both a cover man and a pass rusher.

That's made his contract negotiations tricky when considering what he is worth to the team.

Metellus said that despite all the versatility, he values himself as a safety and merely learned all those roles to have an impact behind Harrison Smith and Camryn Bynum, who signed with a $15-million-a-year deal with the Indianapolis Colts in March.

"I kind of had to, we had a Hall of Famer and a guy getting paid $15 million back there," Metellus said of his learning his hybrid role. "I had to find a way to fit in."

Metellus should garner a contract in the ballpark of Bynum's deal in Indianapolis, which ranks 10th in average annual value at the position.

"At the end of the day, I came in this league at safety, that's forever going to be my true position," Metellus added. "All the other stuff, I think, adds to my value. But at the end of the day, I'm a ball player -- 1,000 snaps at whatever position, I'm going to do everything to help the team win.'