For a little while, the Ivan Pace Vikings theory has been picking up momentum.
The aggressive off-ball linebacker is on the final year of his contract. Even if 2025 continues being a disappointment, Mr. Pace has more than earned a strong pay raise. The UDFA has proven capable of being very disruptive when allowed to chase down passers and has the ability to shoot through gaps to wrangle the runner, as well. Do the Vikings shop him at the trade deadline? Is there still enough in-house depth to do so?
The Vikings Theory & A Thinner LB Position
Still having Kobe King around would have helped.
In King, the Vikings had a 22-year-old defender to build up in the coming seasons. He isn’t the world’s best athlete and he has plenty of room to grow in pass coverage. He is, nevertheless, someone who offers physical tackling on specials alongside being a player capable of helping out on defense, especially on early downs.
The issue is that King is now a New York Jet. The AFC team scooped up the linebacker off of waivers after Minnesota moved on from him to clear room for Aaron Jones.
Minnesota is now moving through the season with Blake Cashman as the LB1 and Eric Wilson as the LB2. Pace is slotting in as an upside LB3 while UDFA Austin Keys is operating as the LB4. Veteran Sione Takitaki is on the practice squad, capable of being called up whenever there’s a need.
Possessing just four off-ball ‘backers in the modern NFL isn’t a bad spot to be, but subtracting one — whether due to trade or injury — would make things dicey. Of course, there’s some added context in Minnesota that’s helpful: the propensity to lean on the safeties.
All of Josh Metellus, Theo Jackson, and Harrison Smith get a pile of reps. Quite possibly, the turn to Jay Ward for greater playing time could involve tasking one of the larger, more physical safeties — either of Metellus or Smith — with getting into the box with greater regularity. In that scenario, Brian Flores would lean on a four-safety look, upping the ante from the more normal three-safety approach.
One then thinks about what the edge rushers can do. When healthy, Andrew Van Ginkel can play off-ball linebacker. So, too, can Dallas Turner, but one wonders if greater simplicity is better for the sophomore who is struggling to live up to expectations.
Behind all of this discussion is Ivan Pace, the linebacker who offers much but who looks like a wild card for Minnesota’s future.
Pretty soon, Pace is going to demand a hearty pay raise. The issue for the Vikings is that there’s no money in the future. Worse yet, there’s less than no money; indeed, there’s a debt pile that needs to be resolved. Handing out a meaty extension becomes difficult to justify, in no small part due to some of the flaws in Pace’s game.
So, the Vikings theory is that Ivan Pace could get shipped out at the trade deadline. Doing so could involve picking up a decent draft pick while solving a future issue: the inability to pay someone since the budget is so lean. Is that still the case after Kobe King got subtracted? Or, perhaps, is Ivan Pace now more important due to the lesser depth and his status as one of the few young Vikings who can play?
At 5’10” and 231 pounds, Ivan Pace is smaller than most linebackers. Where he wins is through his unusual commitment to coming downhill, an aggressiveness that allows him to be a disruptive blitzer while also being someone who can generate TFLs against the run. The third-year player has 6.5 sacks, 21 QB hits, and 11 tackles for loss in his career.
He is 24 and is indisputably someone who should have been drafted in 2023.
