Free from the shackles of the Kirk Cousins contract cycle, the Minnesota Vikings were able to redirect funds to other areas during 2024 free agency. A concerted effort was put into adding pieces to Brian Flores’ defense, and the investments made in edge rushers Andrew Van Ginkel and Jonathan Greenard paid off nicely last season.
Football fans in the Twin Cities area were certainly familiar with the name Blake Cashman. But the Eden Prairie native and University of Minnesota alum had a mostly non-descript NFL career before the Vikings signed him to a three-year deal worth up to $25.5 million in 2024.
In 14 games last season, Cashman delivered. He led the team with 112 total tackles, while adding eight tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and eight pass breakups. PFF graded him as their 22nd-best off-the-ball linebacker, with the third-most quarterback pressures at the position (31).
PFF’s Jonathan Macri recently named the most underrated player for each NFL team, and Cashman was the guy for the Vikings.
“Cashman is a relative unknown in the league as a former fifth-round pick who, outside of his rookie season and prior to becoming a starter in 2023, had failed to crack 150 defensive snaps in three straight years.
However, Cashman broke out in a big way in 2023 with the Texans, earning a top-10 PFF overall grade for his position (82.1), which helped him land a three-year deal with Brian Flores in Minnesota. Cashman delivered another strong year in 2024, playing a career-high 947 defensive snaps, ranking 22nd in PFF overall grade (72.0) and faring well in run defense (76.3).”
Blake Cashman is a sneaky integral part of the Minnesota Vikings defense
The highly variable and blitz-heavy scheme of Vikings’ defensive coordinator Brian Flores demands versatile athletes on all three levels of the defense. Cashman showed signs of being a chess piece like that with the Texans in 2023, and it ramped up based on playing more snaps for the Vikings last season.
The three games Cashman missed last season were due to a turf toe injury. A short week from Week 7 against the Detroit Lions to the Thursday night game to open Week 8 against the Los Angeles Rams certainly wasn’t helpful to his availability, but he also missed Week 9 against the Indianapolis Colts.
That two-game stretch in five days were the Vikings’ only two regular season losses before the Week 18 rematch against the Lions. Detroit and Los Angeles have good offenses, but without Cashman, Minnesota also allowed 28 or more offensive points two of the four times they did so all season in those games.
Others may garner more attention, based on splashy sack totals, etc. But Cashman cannot be overlooked as critical to the success of the Vikings’ defense in 2025.