April 29, 2023 had to be a frustrating day for Ivan Pace Jr. and his family. Pace dominated in his final college season at Cincinnati and was considered to be a mid-round draft pick, but he ended up falling completely out of the NFL Draft. Maybe it was his smaller 5’10”, 231 lbs. frame or the need for a role change in the NFL. Either way, it was shocking to turn on the tape and see this electric, explosive, high-effort player go undrafted.
The Vikings jumped on Pace after the draft, offering him a large UDFA signing bonus. They likely pitched him on a defense under DC Brian Flores that could use Pace in similar ways to how Cincinnati used him in college. He caught on almost immediately and ended up starting in Minnesota’s first preseason game at LB.
In that piece reviewing his game against the Seattle Seahawks, I wrote, “Pace may be making an impact playing on Sundays sooner rather than later.” I thought that was aggressive praise at the time, but Pace proved it faint almost immediately. He played 46 snaps against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1 and got the start in Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles. And since Jordan Hicks suffered an injury against the New Orleans Saints, Pace has worn the green dot, called the defense, and played 100% of the Vikings snaps.
With 43 solo tackles on the season, Pace has more tackles than any LB who was drafted. The Detroit Lions took Jack Campbell in the first round, and he’s the next closest with 41. In his last three games, Pace has recorded 31 tackles, two sacks, an INT, and a forced fumble. Of that, 13 tackles, the INT, and a sack came in Minnesota’s impressive defensive shutout of the Raiders in their 3-0 win on Sunday. On Wednesday, the NFL named him the NFC Player of the Week.
Let’s dive into the tape and see what is allowing Pace to excel.
Unblockable
Opposing linemen have a very difficult time getting their hands on Pace. This was clear from his college tape, but it wasn’t certain it would translate to higher-quality competition in the NFL. It has, unequivocally.
Take the play below as an example. The RG has basically a free run to Pace at the second level, but Pace simply sidesteps the block, reading the cutback from the LB and making the tackle:
I cannot emphasize enough how impressive Pace’s ability to avoid blocks is. Some players who are smaller in stature may avoid blocks only to take themselves out of the play. Former Vikings LB Eric Wilson is a great example of a player who had that issue. Pace can sidestep blocks and still get in on the tackle due to his agility. He doesn’t abandon lanes to avoid getting blocked; he clogs them.
There are multiple examples of this ability in every single game. Check out the play below against the Broncos, where he makes the center whiff and gets in on the tackle:
If an offensive lineman can’t take on Pace, RBs have no chance. His sack in the recent Chicago Bears game is a great example. In the play below, he comes free as a rusher off the edge, and Chicago has assigned the RB to block him. Pace essentially jump cuts around the RB and brings Justin Fields to the ground:
Pace has a great natural feel for space and angles. That helps with sidestepping blockers in the plays above and also assists him in moving laterally. As a sideline-to-sideline player, he is great at avoiding obstacles and zeroing in on the ball carrier. Take the play below from the Raiders game, where he goes behind a blocker and can still make the tackle on Josh Jacobs:
Like his ability to slip blockers, Pace’s capability to work through traffic shows up every week. Below is an absurd play from the Falcons game, where Pace only played 19 snaps. He gets past two blocks by offensive linemen and brings down star RB Bijan Robinson:
Pace did the things above from Day 1. Here are great examples from the Buccaneers game:
Instinctual
Pace’s feel for space in the game is obvious from the plays above, but his ability to read the game has also grown throughout the season. He always seems to be in the right spot against the run, and he has improved significantly in terms of finding his coverage landmarks against the pass.
Pace has a particular penchant for sniffing out cutbacks by the opposing RB in the run game. On this play against the Raiders, Pace plays like he’s responsible for the B gap between the left guard and left tackle. However, Sheldon Day flows strongly with the play, which leaves the cutback an option for Jacobs. Pace sees the cut and can change direction with Jacobs to make the tackle for a minimal gain:
Pace also did this against the Bears. In the play below, he’s responsible for the A gap between the center and right guard, but he sees the cutback by the RB and moves with him to close the hole. That makes the RB try to cut around Pace, and he ends up going right into Josh Metellus, who forces a fumble:
As I mentioned, Pace’s coverage instincts have greatly improved, culminating in his first career interception against the Raiders on Sunday. On the play, Pace was covering Davante Adams, of all people. The play design helped, as Pace starting on the line of scrimmage made Raiders’ QB Aidan O’Connell think that a slant would be open. But Pace quickly flashed into that window. Still, it appears that O’Connell saw Pace, and he held the ball for a second to allow Adams to clear Pace. But Pace had other plans and followed the QB’s eyes to undercut the pass for a diving interception.
This is great processing from the rookie:
A similarly nice coverage play against the Saints led to a sack. On the play below, Pace drops into the “high hole” coverage area in Tampa 2, right where Chris Olave is running a dig. Pace does a good job of reading Olave and gets in position to drive on a throw, forcing Derek Carr to pull the ball down, leading to a Jonathan Bullard sack.
Powerful
Despite his height, Pace is a strong, compact player. He is at his best when he is working around blocks, but he has shown that he can also take on blockers directly.
Watch the play below against the Bears, where he stuns the opposing center. He bench presses him back multiple steps into his right guard, and then the center falls to his knees. Impressive stuff.
That play isn’t an isolated instance of ability. Look at the play below against the Carolina Panthers, which is arguably more impressive because he not only takes on a direct block, but torques his opponent out of the way to make the tackle:
Pace’s quickness allows him to evade blocks, but it also allows him defeat them. On this play against the Green Bay Packers, he gets up into the body of the blocker and executes an efficient spin move to draw a holding penalty:
That play strength also shows up from a tackling perspective. Per Sports Info Solutions, Pace has only missed two tackles on the season. He does a great job of latching on to his opponent and bringing him down. A couple of examples above, like the solo tackles on Jacobs and Fields, are instances of him bringing down powerful runners on his own. In the Raiders game, he also made a strong tackle in space on Davante Adams, who is big and difficult to tackle for a WR:
Effort
Effort is the final piece to creating a great football player, and Pace plays with a very high motor.
Check out the last play of the Raiders game, where Pace is initially lined up as a pass rusher. He goes all the way from being blocked by an offensive lineman to sprinting 30 yards downfield to catch up to Adams just as he pitches the ball backward. Stellar effort.
That effort showed up in many different scenarios on Sunday, including on the screen play below, which forced a fourth down. Pace has a zone to the opposite side of the screen. When Jakobi Meyers takes the ball back inside, Pace hasn’t taken the play off. Instead, he’s right in Meyers’ way and is able to step around a linemen to make the tackle short of the sticks:
Pace’s sack in the Raiders game also shows his great burst. A player could probably take the play below easy as a rusher because he wouldn’t expect the QB to be able to throw the ball into the end zone. But Pace explodes into the backfield on queue and gets the sack. O’Connell has no chance:
Pace steps up and makes plays in big-time moments. The interception above, which essentially sealed the game against the Raiders, is a great example. But Pace also had what could have been a game-winning play in Denver. On this checkdown to Samaje Perine, he chases the RB down and rips the ball out to force a fumble. Unfortunately, because a football is designed to bounce strangely, it goes out of bounds before Pace can recover it. This is a highlight-that-wasn’t from Pace’s season:
Conclusion
Since his first day in the NFL, Ivan Pace Jr. has proven every single team that passed on him in the draft wrong. His ability to manipulate space as a linebacker has made him unblockable in the box and when going sideline-to-sideline. Pace’s instincts have helped him be a strong run defender, and his pass coverage is getting increasingly better as time goes on. Pace’s play strength is undeniable, and perhaps his biggest question is a clear strength of his game. He also has the effort of a star-caliber player.
Pace earned a starting spot at LB due to his skill and hard work this offseason, then took over the top LB spot for the Vikings when Jordan Hicks got hurt. Pace has shown out as the league’s best rookie LB, a surprising feat for a player who went undrafted. Pace is one of the best rookie defenders at any position and has jumped to fourth in DROY odds behind top-10 picks Jalen Carter, Devon Witherspoon, and Will Anderson. In Pace, the Vikings have found a diamond in the rough and are running a defense that is perfect to complement his skill set.
