No shock there.

greediron wrote:

No shock there.

It would have been a shock if he hadn’t won.

This hometown guy has been killing it, let’s keep him in purple Vikings!

greediron wrote:

No shock there.

Kentis wrote:

This hometown guy has been killing it, let’s keep him in purple, Vikings!

JustInTime wrote:

It would have been a shock if he hadn’t won.

You can say that again…🤣

Blake Cashman, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Isaiah Rodgers are all in the last year of their current deals.

All three have already proven they deserve extensions. https://t.co/maJXNHIxuu

— Jason Harmon (@JasonHarmonNFL) October 26, 2026

Cricket wrote:

https://x.com/JasonHarmonNFL/status/2114715784744448089?a=6QGV45wMd847VTSM1Qg&s=20

Dayum, I like all 3 of em too

Kentis wrote:

You can say that again…🤣

Dayum. That’s twice recently. Weird

The #Vikings now have 5 player of the week award winners this season:

• Isaiah Rodgers (Special Teams, Week 2)
• Myles Price (Special Teams, Week 3)
• Will Reichard (Special Teams, Week 4)
• Byron Murphy Jr (Defense, Week 5)
• Blake Cashman (Defense, Week 7) https://t.co/Q2hZxT8sho

— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) October 28, 2026

JustInTime wrote:

Dayum. That’s twice recently. Weird

It’s the new “you’re absolutely fucking right” function that Mike just installed, auto double post man! 😜

.@blockayyy put on a show Sunday. pic.twitter.com/1L8kSaMyvJ

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) October 28, 2026

Glad to see Blake Cashman getting national recognition pic.twitter.com/S5308gPXHY

— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) October 28, 2026

Cricket wrote:

https://x.com/Vikings/status/2115492765781860453?a=S1Ccif1-FAhPkfRrrxs&s=20

Gibbs is having nightmares.

Blake Cashman epitomizes this Vikings defense in its entirety.

Overlooked. Intelligent. Selfless.

He’s getting his due amid perhaps his best-ever season, a contract year with no extension that places his future with the team in question:https://t.co/0UaXRjwNu3

— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) October 29, 2026

LB Blake Cashman is having a stellar season. Why haven’t the Vikings extended him?

EAGAN, Minn. — Only a time-lapse video would do his job justice.

Before a snap, Minnesota Vikings linebacker Blake Cashman moves around like the leader of an ant colony. He scurries here, then there. He steps back from the line of scrimmage to communicate with teammates, then inches forward, then reverts back for more discussion.

He’s never static. The choreography gets lost in the mayhem, so much so that it requires a slow-motion review.

“Dudes are yelling at him all game, ‘What’s the call? What’s the call?'” Vikings safety Harrison Smith said Sunday. “He’s got so much going on. For him to be able to quiet (all of) that when the ball is snapped and play with intelligence and violence takes someone who is playing lights out.”

Cashman’s excellence has shown up just about every week this season. On a third down in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, he found Smith and passed along a message amid the cauldron of noise inside U.S. Bank Stadium. As Smith relayed the memo to the rest of the secondary with hand signals, Cashman turned his attention toward the defensive line and hollered another directive.

Orchestration like this allowed the Vikings to do what they do best.

Defensive backs drifted into complex coverages. The defensive line executed an interior stunt. Colts quarterback Daniel Jones looked befuddled and attempted a quick checkdown. Almost mystically, Cashman squared up to the pass at the perfect time and swatted the ball away, closing the loop on his profound role for a group that has become a national darling.

“Blake has been out of his mind the whole year,” right tackle Brian O’Neill said.

Defensive coordinator Brian Flores rightfully receives praise for a unit that ranks best in the NFL in almost every meaningful metric.

But even he has admitted that Minnesota’s stranglehold on opposing offenses takes a group of players selfless enough to let teammates make plays and smart enough to apply their knowledge on the fly.

Cashman embodies this alchemy to a T. He’s been more than the Vikings hoped for when they signed him as a free agent ahead of the 2024 season. Cashman erased space on the second level from the outset. He was always a reliable tackler.

But now, Flores deploys him like a missile. In six games, Cashman has recorded 16 quick pressures, according to Next Gen Stats, behind only Nik Bonitto and Will Anderson Jr. in the entire NFL.

“I don’t know if there’s much more I can say about Cash,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “I’m glad he’s getting the recognition his play is warranting.”

The NFL honored him as the NFC Defensive Player of the Week on Wednesday, acknowledging his 12-tackle, two-sack, four-pass-deflection performance against the Colts.

Sustaining his lofty play seems to come down to health. But as long as Cashman, 30, proves to be durable, the Vikings are working toward a precarious position.

This spring, the team postponed contract extension talks with many of its veteran defensive contributors. Edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel’s contract voids at the end of the season. Cornerback Isaiah Rodgers is in the final year of his deal. Other key members of the group, such as safety Josh Metellus and defensive tackle Jalen Redmond, have no guaranteed money beyond this season.

Cashman’s place in this hierarchy is confounding for several reasons. Beyond his key role in igniting the defensive operation, the team doesn’t have an immediate, clear replacement. Also, Cashman, a native of Eden Prairie, Minn., has said he prefers to remain in purple for the rest of his career.

Rookie linebacker Jake Golday took snaps at the off-ball spot this summer. But his body type and skill set may suit him best as a versatile edge player who can drop from the line of scrimmage. Depth linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. provides a dominant blitz option. But the Vikings have never committed to him as an every-down player, mostly because his rugged nature is better suited near the line of scrimmage.

The Vikings could fill Cashman’s void via free agency or with a rookie. This, though, gets at this defense’s secret sauce. Could a first-year defender gain the experience needed to man the middle in this system?

Furthermore, if Cashman continues on this All-Pro trajectory, will the Vikings lose out on paying a player they could have secured at a more reasonable cost?

“He’s certainly bailed me out a few times as far as me not getting the call in quickly enough, and he makes the call,” Flores said this week. “Or, he changes a call mid-play based on what he sees. Or changing the front. Or moving the front based on something he sees. He’s done a great job.”

Determining each individual’s value when a team thrives is a complicated tale as old as time. This defense epitomizes the conundrum.

That’s what delayed Metellus’ extension last fall. It’s what took cornerback Byron Murphy Jr.’s new contract to the wire. It’s what gave the Vikings enough confidence to move on from edge rusher Jonathan Greenard.

These choices could have lifted or diminished the group’s overall effectiveness. Fortunately for the Vikings, they appear to have made the right moves.

Cashman’s circumstance comes at a critical moment, considering the defense’s role in the team’s undefeated start. The Vikings are banking on this group to keep playing well above its cost, embodied by the overlooked middle linebacker conducting this chaotic symphony.