The Minnesota Vikings went all-in on the 2025 season in free agency.
Will general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and company now double down at the NFL trade deadline?
The Vikings are in a precarious spot, at best, with the deadline looming on Tuesday evening. At 3-4, their playoff chances hinge squarely on the shoulders of 22-year-old quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who’s played just 103 career NFL snaps, and none since mid-September.
McCarthy is the ultimate wild-card. If he can recreate the magic of Minnesota’s fourth-quarter comeback against the Chicago Bears in the season opener, it would behoove the Vikings to buy before Tuesday’s deadline; if he reverts back to QB who looked rattled under intense pressure from the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2, it might make more sense to take a more neutral approach.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell recently named the Vikings among his NFL teams that “should probably deal players for picks” ahead of deadline day, and he mentioned a potential trade chip that would make sense based on some recent lineup adjustments on defense.
Could the Minnesota Vikings cut ties with struggling LB Ivan Pace Jr. ahead of the 2025 NFL trade deadline?
It’s hard to say anything negative about Ivan Pace Jr. He signed with the Vikings as a free agent after going undrafted in 2023, and his meteoric rise in Brian Flores’ defense that season made for the ultimate underdog story.
Pace looked like a future franchise middle linebacker during his rookie season. He racked up 102 total tackles and 2.5 sacks; he was also excellent in pass coverage, earning a 77.7 grade from Pro Football Focus, and against the rush with 30 run stuffs that year.
The 24-year-old took a step back in 2024, partly due to a nagging hamstring injury over the second half of the season. Hopes for a 2025 resurgence have been doomed by tackling and coverage issues; Pace leads the Vikings with 10 missed tackles, per PFF, and that includes him getting benched against the Eagles in Week 7 and playing just 17 defensive snaps against the Chargers in Week 8.
Pace has been a good player for Minnesota, but with Blake Cashman now back in the lineup, and veteran Eric Wilson commanding playing time at off-ball linebacker, the table could be set for Adofo-Mensah to flip Pace for future draft capital.
Barnwell sees the writing on the wall for Pace, who ranks 74th out of 80 players in PFF’s inside linebacker ratings.
“The Vikings had only five picks in 2025, and at 3-4, they haven't looked like a team that can make a deep playoff push this season. … Pace, who has fallen out of the starting lineup and played just 17 defensive snaps over the past two weeks, is a restricted free agent after the season.”
No one saw the Vikings selling at this year’s trade deadline entering the season, but it might be the prudent path forward. Minnesota enters Week 9 as a big road underdog to the Detroit Lions; uncertainty at quarterback, a brutal schedule, and a defense that’s struggling mightily against the run doesn’t offer much hope for a second-half turnaround in 2025.
It’s rare for a team to turn an undrafted player into a tradable asset. Contending teams hurting at linebacker could be willing to part with a late Day 3 pick for Pace, and the Vikings should be interested, given the player's downward trajectory.