Ivan Pace Jr. holds the WLB · Backup spot in Minnesota Vikings’s linebacker room. Where he sits among the room’s front-line roles:

Ivan Pace Jr. played 17 games in 2025 with a 30% snap share.

Ivan Pace Jr. is a 5'10", 235-pound weakside linebacker from Cincinnati, Ohio who went undrafted and signed with the Minnesota Vikings in 2023. As a rookie, he earned PFWA All-Rookie Team honors and NFC Defensive Player of the Week in Week 14 after recording 13 tackles, a sack and an interception against Las Vegas—the second such performance by a rookie since 1994. In 2024, Pace appeared in 11 games with 10 starts and recorded a career-high 3.0 sacks along with seven tackles for loss despite missing six games to injury. He scored his first NFL touchdown on a 36-yard fumble recovery return against Detroit in Week 7, becoming just the sixth player since 2000 to post 10+ tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery touchdown in a single game. Pace enters his fourth season with Minnesota.

CollegeCincinnati; Miami (Ohio)HometownCincinnati, OH