diff --git a/python/ray/rllib/agents/dqn/dqn.py b/python/ray/rllib/agents/dqn/dqn.py
index cdace0865..db5d261ee 100644
--- a/python/ray/rllib/agents/dqn/dqn.py
+++ b/python/ray/rllib/agents/dqn/dqn.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import time
 from ray.rllib import optimizers
 from ray.rllib.agents.agent import Agent, with_common_config
 from ray.rllib.agents.dqn.dqn_policy_graph import DQNPolicyGraph
-from ray.rllib.evaluation.metrics import collect_metrics
 from ray.rllib.utils.schedules import ConstantSchedule, LinearSchedule
 
 OPTIMIZER_SHARED_CONFIGS = [
@@ -220,14 +219,12 @@ class DQNAgent(Agent):
 
         if self.config["per_worker_exploration"]:
             # Only collect metrics from the third of workers with lowest eps
-            result = collect_metrics(
-                self.local_evaluator,
-                self.remote_evaluators[-len(self.remote_evaluators) // 3:],
-                timeout_seconds=self.config["collect_metrics_timeout"])
+            result = self.optimizer.collect_metrics(
+                timeout_seconds=self.config["collect_metrics_timeout"],
+                selected_evaluators=self.remote_evaluators[
+                    -len(self.remote_evaluators) // 3:])
         else:
-            result = collect_metrics(
-                self.local_evaluator,
-                self.remote_evaluators,
+            result = self.optimizer.collect_metrics(
                 timeout_seconds=self.config["collect_metrics_timeout"])
 
         result.update(
diff --git a/python/ray/rllib/optimizers/policy_optimizer.py b/python/ray/rllib/optimizers/policy_optimizer.py
index 3f958c4d6..6c2a5787d 100644
--- a/python/ray/rllib/optimizers/policy_optimizer.py
+++ b/python/ray/rllib/optimizers/policy_optimizer.py
@@ -86,11 +86,18 @@ class PolicyOptimizer(object):
             "num_steps_sampled": self.num_steps_sampled,
         }
 
-    def collect_metrics(self, timeout_seconds, min_history=100):
+    def collect_metrics(self,
+                        timeout_seconds,
+                        min_history=100,
+                        selected_evaluators=None):
         """Returns evaluator and optimizer stats.
 
         Arguments:
+            timeout_seconds (int): Max wait time for a evaluator before
+                dropping its results. This usually indicates a hung evaluator.
             min_history (int): Min history length to smooth results over.
+            selected_evaluators (list): Override the list of remote evaluators
+                to collect metrics from.
 
         Returns:
             res (dict): A training result dict from evaluator metrics with
@@ -98,7 +105,7 @@ class PolicyOptimizer(object):
         """
         episodes, num_dropped = collect_episodes(
             self.local_evaluator,
-            self.remote_evaluators,
+            selected_evaluators or self.remote_evaluators,
             timeout_seconds=timeout_seconds)
         orig_episodes = list(episodes)
         missing = min_history - len(episodes)