Minnesota Vikings inside linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. and defensive lineman Harrison Phillips were named secret superstars by Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar.
The idea of secret superstars was created by Farrar to highlight players with excellent performances that fly under the radar.
Buy Vikings TicketsNot every great NFL performance is given by a well-known player. Just as often as you see the league’s marquee names ball out, there are those under-the-radar guys who rise up at the right time to add weight to their own names.
It happens every week, and we have collected this list of the most prominent Week 2 performances from those players whose deeds outweighed the import of their reputations.
Pace has been the highlight of the Vikings defense over the first two games, starting both of them as a UDFA out of Cincinnati. Farrar highlighted his impact on the Vikings as both a blitzer and stopping the run.
Pace was a highly productive and versatile linebacker out of Cincinnati, but he went undrafted in 2023 due to concerns about his size. You’d think NFL teams would re-think the effect of speed linebackers in a base nickel and dime defense league even when that speed linebacker is 5-foot-10 and 235 pounds, but it is what it is. So, the Vikings got themselves a steal in Pace, who has a sack, five total pressures, 14 tackles, and six stops through his first two professional regular-season games.
Defensive coordinator Brian Flores has liked to use Pace as a blitzer from just about every gap through the first two weeks of Pace’s NFL career, and he’s quite effective, especially around the middle. On this stunt against the Eagles last Thursday night, Pace crossed the right side of Philly’s offensive line with defensive tackle Pat Jones II, messing up the protection. From there, it was chaos in the backfield, and this set up Danielle Hunter’s spin-move sack from the other side.
Phillips was the highlight for the Vikings in the running game, tying for the NFL lead among defensive linemen in week two with five stops.
Against the Philadelphia Eagles last Thursday night, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores chose to work with light boxes and a frequent five-man umbrella up top, which led to the Eagles rushing for 259 yards and three touchdowns on 48 carries. When 63% of your defensive snaps are in light boxes, your defensive linemen had better be able to hold up.
That wasn’t true for all of Minnesota’s defensive linemen, but Phillips was the exception. He tied with QuInnen Williams of the New York Jets with five stops in Week 2 — the most for any interior defensive lineman — and he had a sack and a quarterback hurry. When the Eagles ran No. 97’s way, the play usually wasn’t a success.
The Vikings have some players on defense, now the scheme needs to keep putting them in positions to thrive.
