If you were impressed by Minnesota Vikings safety Josh Metellus’ breakout 2023 season before, wait until you hear this statistic that embodies his remarkable season.
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert reports that Metellus played the most snaps of any player in the NFL with 1,224, according to ESPN’s stat info team, beating out the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Rayshawn Jenkins by a single snap.
Metellus played every position on the defense, a perfect symbol of the versatility that makes Brian Flores’ ever-evolving defense so successful.
Metellus was seen on all three levels, from the defensive end to the roaming safety, from the outside linebacker to the slot cornerback, playing 1065 defensive snaps, 94% of the defensive snaps for 2023 (third-most on the team). What put Metellus over the top was his 194 special teams snaps, around 45% of the total special teams snaps in 2023 (ninth-most on the team).
Metellus’ 2023 season is a testament to the hard work players put into finding their niche in the NFL. Metellus’ superpower this season was that he was a jack-of-all-trades and an intelligent football player who would find a way to stay around the ball and make a play.
Flores took that intelligence and turned it into a weapon to camouflage his intentions and help accomplish the number one goal in his defense: Confuse the quarterback.
Flores is set to return as the defensive coordinator for the Vikings in 2024. Metellus is on contract to be a Viking until 2026 after signing a two-year extension before the season started.
What do these two have in store for us next season? If this season has taught us anything, the possibilities are endless.
