Joshua Metellus (born January 21, 1998) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

strong safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

College career

After playing at

Charles W. Flanagan High School Charles W. Flanagan High School is a public high school in Pembroke Pines, Florida, United States. Opened in 1996, it was the first public high school there. Flanagan's enrollment is just under 2600. Flanagan has a Florida Comprehensive Assessm ...

, Metellus committed to

on June 17, 2015, choosing the Wolverines over

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, Florida International,

Middle Tennessee State Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a public university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight undergraduate colleges as well as a college of graduate studies, together of ...

and others. He had previously committed to

Georgia Southern Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hin ...

, but switched to Michigan after attending an affiliate camp, and Flanagan teammate Devin Bush Jr. later signed with Michigan as well. Metellus saw some action as a backup during his true freshman season at Michigan, and garnered honorable mention all-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

during his sophomore season on the strength of three games started. After practicing at both free safety and strong safety in spring, his senior season included duties as an edge cover in the running game and a roaming safety in the passing game. Metellus was named a team captain his senior season, and participated in the

2020 Senior Bowl The 2020 Senior Bowl was an all-star college football exhibition game played on January 25, 2020, at 1:30 p.m. CST, at Ladd–Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. The game featured prospects for the 2020 draft of the professional National Fo ...

and 2020

NFL Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Footba ...

Professional career

Metellus was drafted by the

in the sixth round (205th overall) of the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The d ...

. He was waived by the Vikings during final roster cuts on September 5, 2020 and signed to the practice squad the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on September 18, 2020. Metellus made his first career start in Week 3 of the 2022 season against the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

, where he recorded his first career interception off

Jared Goff Jared Thomas Goff (born October 14, 1994) is an American football quarterback for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at California, where he set the Pac-12 Conference season records for passing ...

in the final seconds of the fourth quarter in the 28-24 win.

References

External links

Minnesota Vikings bioMichigan Wolverines bio
1998 births Living people Players of American football from Florida Sportspeople from Pembroke Pines, Florida American football safeties Michigan Wolverines football players Minnesota Vikings players {{Defensiveback-1990s-stub