As with all top-notch coordinators, Brian Flores’ defense is greater than the sum of its parts. Some of its parts are cast-offs, journeymen, and undrafted free agents. Marquee players like Stephon Gilmore and Harrison Smith are past their prime. When pundits looked at the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive roster on paper, most assumed it would hold this team back. Au contraire.
Newcomers like Jihad Ward and Shaq Griffin, as well as returning starters like Ivan Pace Jr., have been great in their roles on this defense. They all deserve recognition.
Jihad Ward
Ward began his career with the Las Vegas Raiders when they were still in Oakland and struggled with injuries early on. He had arthroscopic knee surgery as a rookie in 2016 and only played five games the following year as he tried to recover from surgery on his left foot. Ward wound up on the Indianapolis Colts in 2018 and played the first six games before suffering an ankle injury that sidelined him for the rest of that season. Then, he bounced from Indy to Baltimore before suiting up for his first full season with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021. He played all 17 games in 2022 and 2023 with the New York Giants before landing in Minnesota on a one-year $1.79 million deal.
At 6’5”, 285 lbs., the 30-year-old is a versatile inside-out pass rusher and a late-down rotation player for the defense; 135 of his 142 defensive snaps have come against the pass. Ward often lines up at 1-technique over one of the A gaps or over a guard as a 2i or 3-technique. When isolated on a guard and not involved in a stunt, he has succeeded with inside or outside spin moves to breach the pocket. Ward, like many of Minnesota’s pass rushers, can affect the game from all over the defensive front.
Shaquill Griffin
Griffin made a Pro Bowl 2019 in his third season while still on his rookie contract with the Seattle Seahawks. Still, Seattle allowed him to hit free agency following the 2020 season. After a solid year in Jacksonville in 2021, he suffered a vertebral fracture that required surgery in 2022. The now-29-year-old had slim odds of returning to form following an injury like that, coupled with a hamstring that has nagged him since 2019. However, he appears to have found his footing within the Flores system in Minnesota.
One of three Vikings defenders who played for the Houston Texans last year, Griffin joined the team on a one-year, $4.55 million deal. It’s difficult to argue that he hasn’t outplayed his contract to this point in the season. Griffin often sees the field in nickel and dime packages, playing the boundary and allowing Byron Murphy Jr. to move into the slot.
Last year, Flores lacked a veteran corner who could consistently hold up in man coverage, and it limited the play-calling. Now, with Griffin and Gilmore in tow, the defense can adapt and give offenses a bevy of coverages to deal with. Per PFF, when Griffin has been in single coverage this season (46 snaps), he has been targeted nine times, allowed zero receptions, deflected two passes, and logged an interception. Griffin is playing well and is still in his prime.
Ivan Pace Jr.
Pace led all college linebackers in sacks and pressures in his final season at Cincinnati and was a huge part of the program’s success. At one point, he showed out at the 2023 Senior Bowl, pancaking soon-to-be first-round guard O’Cyrus Torrence. His below-average physical and athletic measurables are the only conceivable explanation for why a player with his talent went undrafted in 2023.
As a rookie, he showed enough to the coaching staff to make the team as an undrafted free agent and to don the green dot as the main communicator in veteran linebacker Jordan Hicks‘ absence. While the Vikings have entrusted Blake Cashman with the green dot this season, Pace has ridden his rookie momentum and looked even better this year. Pace will likely reclaim the green dot this weekend against the Detroit Lions if Cashman isn’t able to go.
As an undersized player, Pace rarely looks to take on blocks head-on but is explosive enough to do so. Instead, Pace constantly finds holes at the line of scrimmage in the run game. He sidesteps climbing offensive linemen and teleports behind them to blow up run plays. Pace plays with an extremely high motor and impacts the game no matter how limited his snaps are in a given matchup. His feel and timing when navigating blocks cannot be taught.
These intangibles can often be overlooked by NFL teams’ sometimes overly scientific draft process. Anyone who has watched a game from their couch or flipped on the film to watch Ivan Pace Jr. knows he should’ve been drafted, but many of us are glad he wasn’t.
