Aspiring football players could learn a thing or two from Joshua Metellus' marvelous self-awareness.

Last week, the do-it-all 27-year-old Vikings defender explained to The Athletic's Jourdan Rodrigue he considers himself a great football player. Point blank, period. It's a notion reinforced to the umpteenth degree by his all-encompassing responsibility throughout Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores' scheme.

"I just tell people (now) that I'm a great football player," said Metellus, who is listed as a safety. "I might not be elite at one position, but I'm elite at football. That's what matters. That's the game we play."

Every team needs elite football players. But only the Vikings have someone as shapeshifting as Metellus.

Rodrigue on Monday shared an article spotlighting Metellus, whom she labeled the "most interesting player on the NFL's most metamorphic defense." The catch is Metellus doesn't play an actual position.

He plays many of them. Here's an excerpt from Rodrigue's feature:

Atypical of most players across the NFL, Metellus now attends meetings in multiple position rooms. He starts his week by watching an opponent's first- and second-down tendencies the Monday after games.

On either Wednesdays or Thursdays, he'll be with the linebackers working on run fits. When the pass rush plan is finalized, Metellus goes to those meetings, too, and reps into those drills on the field. He ends back with the coverage players to make sure he's understanding how the entire puzzle fits together. Flores holds large multi-position installation meetings throughout the week so that defenders can understand the larger purpose behind each others' roles. It's a good thing, too, because the defensive coordinator has been known to change elements of the game plan as late as Friday or Saturday.

Metellus' reputation in the Vikings building expanded from sixth-round pick in 2020 (who didn't make the team, initially) and special teams stalwart to budding defensive star when Flores was hired in 2023.

That's because Flores, a former scout, identified traits in Metellus' tape – and a mental acumen – that would mesh with the coach's innovation and aggressive deployment of blitzes and disguised coverages.

In essence, Metellus became key to Flores unlocking a defense that is "the only of its kind in the NFL."

Rodrigue illustrated Metellus' versatility with a simple alignment check. Last season, Metellus rarely came off the field and handled 59 snaps on the edge (19 pass rushes), 69 as a defensive tackle (27 pass rushes), 408 as a linebacker, 267 in the slot, 17 at cornerback, 98 at free safety and 20 at strong safety.

"We call it the 'X-Man' spot," Metellus told Rodrigue.

There's a real "X-Men" tie-in too. Metellus reflected that his role is similar to the "blue lady" character, named Mystique, in the Marvel comics and films. Mystique can mimic the appearance of any person, just as Metellus can play in the box and slice in for a tackle for loss or roam the deepest parts of the field.

Metellus' ubiquity lends itself to conversations throughout the week with non-secondary coaches that add to his well of knowledge. He quipped to Rodrigue, "To be honest, it almost feels like I'm a coach."

"When you love football the way I do, it's all I think about," Metellus said (his wife Haley is an equally big football junkie and will ask him which positions he's playing within a given week; which positions he's not would be a shorter reply). "I'm constantly going through my head of different things, different scenarios."

As a byproduct of his widespread impact, Metellus was rewarded in July with a multi-year contract extension; a long way from being the final guy on the roster "fighting for your spot every day."

Read in depth how Metellus went from clinging onto the NFL to emerging as an 'X-Man' here.

Additionally, check out Alec Lewis' piece on a separate Vikings safety, up-and-comer Theo Jackson, here.

Flashing potential, acknowledging flaws

On the topic of self-awareness, let us appreciate Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins.

The fifth-round rookie from Georgia has shuffled in with the first Vikings defense during training camp. He has enjoyed some good moments in his first two NFL exhibitions and is on a great development track.

Mark Craig of the Minnesota Star Tribune on Sunday wrote an article that highlighted Ingram-Dawkins' flashes – and his flaws. Notably, Ingram-Dawkins was in agreement after Saturday's contest against New England when Craig presented him with a "weakness" accented in Ingram-Dawkins' pre-draft report on NFL.com.

It read: "Gets too caught up in initial battles with blockers."

The next part of Craig's story demonstrates a mature approach by Ingram-Dawkins.

What say you, Tyrion?

The 6-5, 276-pounder with thick arms longer than a preseason game feels looked up, raised an index finger and thankfully didn't clobber this observer for raising the subject.

"That," Ingram-Dawkins said, "actually is the biggest truthful thing I've seen in all the analysis of my game. All the other stuff was just talk, but that's a very true statement. I do get caught up in the initial contact, but it's something I've been working on a lot here, and I'm getting better."

In a room stacked with veterans such as Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave and Harrison Phillips, it is inevitable that Ingram-Dawkins, who started only 10 games at the college level, is going to improve.

The ability is apparent already.

Craig made note of three specific plays in the tilt against the Patriots that illustrated different strengths of Ingram-Dawkins' game: On a second-and-15 out of the gate, Ingram-Dawkins failed to execute his first pass-rush move (a push-pull against former Vikings center Garrett Bradbury) and reacted with a burst of power that put the Patriots center on his back. Later on, inside the Vikings 10-yard line, the 22-year-old showed patience by planting himself in his gap and waiting until the opportune time to shed a block and record a tackle for a 1-yard loss. He said his long arms helped him. Ingram-Dawkins also used a "little stutter inside move" to slip past 2022 first-rounder Cole Strange on a fourth-and-5 incompletion.

All in all, Ingram-Dawkins is one of the more intriguing young players on the 2025 Vikings because his "NFL-caliber rotational depth potential is obvious," Craig deduced. His self-awareness is important, too.

Ingram-Dawkins told Craig, "I'm nowhere near my best yet. Nowhere near."

You can find Craig's full analysis on the tantalizing rookie d-lineman here.

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