Defensive end Danielle Hunter leads the Vikings this season with 8 1/2 sacks, but he doesn’t set the pace when it comes to sacks per snap.

Hunter has played 496 snaps this season, meaning he gets a sack every 58.4 defensive plays. But reserve defensive lineman Ifeadi Odenigbo has three sacks in 138 snaps, meaning he gets one every 46 plays on the field.

“I get limited snaps, but when I go out there, I’m trying to ride the whole offense like, ‘Let’s go, baby. Let’s get off the field,’ ” Odenigbo said.

Lining up as an inside rusher, Odenigbo has had a sack in three of the past five games. He had one while playing 27 snaps Oct. 6 against the New York Giants, another while in for seven plays Oct. 24 against Washington and then one last Sunday in 17 snaps against Kansas City.

He has become a designated pass rusher for the Vikings.

“Most of all, it starts in practice, so I think I’ve become such a better football player just from seeing guys like Danielle, seeing guys like Everson (Griffen), seeing guys like Linval (Joseph),” Odenigbo said. “They really carry themselves like professionals, and I’ve gotten to learn from them the last couple of years.

“So I feed off them. So when Harrison (Smith) gets a sack, when Danielle gets a sack, I’m like, ‘All right, it’s my turn, baby. Spread the love here.’ ”

Odenigbo missed practice Wednesday with a shoulder injury. The severity of the injury is uncertain.

Odenigbo, 25, a seventh-round draft pick in 2017 out of Northwestern, made the Vikings’ roster after being cut at the end of the preseason the previous two years. He spent 2017 on Minnesota’s practice squad and had brief roster stints early last season with Cleveland and Arizona before spending the second half of 2018 on the Vikings’ practice squad.

“He kind of came on at the end of last year a little bit, on the practice squad, and we noticed,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. “He’s a very violent rusher, plays with a lot of strength and toughness.”

In the 26-23 loss to the Chiefs, the Vikings didn’t hesitate to use Odenigbo when the game was on the line. Early in the fourth quarter, with Minnesota leading 23-20, he had an 11-yard sack of Kansas City quarterback Matt Moore on third down, which forced a punt.

“When he gets his opportunity, he makes the most of it,” Vikings defensive end Stephen Weatherly said. “That’s why you see the success he’s having even with the limited number of snaps he does have.”

Odenigbo also sacked Giants quarterback Daniel Jones for an 12-yard loss in the second quarter in Week 5, then sacked the Redskins’ Dwayne Haskins for a 8-yard loss in the fourth quarter of Week 8. After all of his sacks, he has done a Game of Thrones-influenced dance in which he pretends to pull out a sword, point it to the sky and then put it in the ground.

“I know not to take the game for granted,” Odenigbo said. “I’ve got to enjoy every bit of it.”