The Vikings’ Ivan Pace Jr. Dilemma
Ivan Pace Jr. has been a tremendous success. The UDFA addition would get drafted in a redo of the 2023 NFL Draft — 2nd Round? 3rd Round? — a surefire sign that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah did wonderfully when onboarding the aggressive linebacker.
Minnesota is moving into the final year of Pace’s contract. He’ll be an RFA in 2026, giving Adofo-Mensah a decent bit of leverage when arriving at the negotiation table. The problem is merely that Minnesota is moving into a difficult financial future, one where cap space is already in short supply. Can the team afford to keep Ivan Pace?
Ivan Pace Jr. & The Vikings’ 26 Budget
Earlier in the offseason, the Vikings benefited from a similar roadblock.
Jordan Mason was acquired in a trade. The cost was just a 6th and then a late-round pick swap. The trade compensation was modest at least partly due to the need to extend Mr. Mason, an RFA who had earned a raise coming off a breakout season in 2024. San Francisco found it difficult to pull off — Christian McCaffrey isn’t cheap and there are other stars to pay — so they moved him out, gaining value in the draft and one less hurdle for their salary cap.
Bring things back around to Ivan Pace Jr., the 24-year-old linebacker who has more than earned a strong raise.
As a rookie, Mr. Pace got onto the field for all seventeen games while earning eleven starts on defense. He responded by giving Brian Flores 102 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 9 QB hits, 2 tackles for loss, 1 interception, 2 passes defended, and 1 forced fumble. The DC was even able to get frisky with some blitzes, sending Pace 74 times. On average, that’s 4 or more blitzes per game.
The encore season encountered some turbulence insofar as Ivan Pace worked through injury. He therefore saw his games drop to eleven with ten starts. In that opportunity, Pace snagged 72 tackles, 3 sacks, 7 QB hits, 7 tackles for loss, 1 interception, and 1 pass defended. Oh, and another thing: Pace got sent on 44 blitz, a perfect average of 4 blitzes per game.
The PFF nerds in the crowd will be pleased to know that Pace has received promising grades from the website. The 2023 season finished off with a very impressive 77.1 grade, good for 16th among 82 linebackers under consideration. The 2024 season — perhaps due to injury — saw the grade dip down to 63.0, finishing off at 47th out of 84 under consideration. The simplest breakdown of his game in 2024 suggests that he’s a very good run defender, a very good pass rusher, and very poor in pass coverage (at least per PFF).
Now, consider the broader context.
Next offseason, Blake Cashman will be moving into the final deal of the three-year contract he signed in 2024. His cap charge will swell to $9,050,000. Not monstrous, but beefy enough within the context of Minnesota’s difficult cap situation.
Otherwise, there will be Kobe King, the linebacker coming out of Penn State who was just scooped up in the 6th. Eric Wilson and Brian Asamoah will be free agents. Finally, there’s Ivan Pace sitting there as an RFA, someone who still has some team control hovering over his employment status and yet without an actual contract to play.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah recently tackled the issue with safety Theo Jackson, handing over a medium deal to keep the promising defensive back in town for three more years. The critical difference is simply that Jackson hasn’t been a starter, instead being a special teams stalwart and promising fill-in on defense. Adofo-Mensah thus got good value on the contract for Jackson.
Can something similar occur with Ivan Pace, someone who has proven to be a strong NFL starter? Unlikely, folks.
At the end of the day, the franchise is working with a champagne problem. If only every UDFA pickup was so successful that there was then a tricky contract situation coming up. Safe to say that Adofo-Mensah would welcome that kind of dilemma with each one of his signings after the draft.
Ivan Pace Jr. deserves a strong raise. Fans, for the most part, will be hoping that raise comes from the Vikings. The dilemma is that money isn’t abundant, making an ongoing relationship between team and player far from a foregone conclusion.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference, PFF, and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and Bluesky (@VikingsGazette). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.