https://vikesnow.com/analysis/2026/blake-cashman-vikings-defense-work/

Blake Cashman Makes the Vikings’ Defense Work

The Minnesota Vikings’ defense has spent much of training camp making quarterbacks uncomfortable.

Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy are competing for a starting job, but neither has found much room to settle into a rhythm. The front has compressed pockets. Brian Flores has continued to send pressure from unexpected places. Defensive backs have made plays on the ball.

At the center of it all is Blake Cashman.

The linebacker’s night practice on Sunday offered the clearest example yet. During a two-minute drill against Murray and the first-team offense, Cashman helped create pressure with Andrew Van Ginkel, came free for a sack after a low snap, blew up Aaron Jones in pass protection and then burst through the middle as Dallas Turner threatened off the edge.

The drive never had a chance to develop.

Cashman did not simply make one splash play. He kept showing up in the exact ways Flores needs an inside linebacker to show up, organizing the defense before the snap, recognizing the offensive formation, threatening pressure and turning an opponent’s protection problem into a negative play.

That combination helps explain why Cashman’s importance has only grown entering his third season in Minnesota.

More than a tackle-maker

Cashman has always been an active player. He plays downhill, closes quickly and has the range to move through traffic. But his value in Flores’ system is not limited to chasing ball-carriers.

The Vikings ask their linebackers to think.

On early downs, Cashman said much of the communication starts with the linebackers, who are responsible for recognizing formations, echoing the call and getting the defense aligned in a favorable look.

That assignment becomes even more significant in a defense that constantly changes the picture for an offense. Flores will show pressure, drop defenders, send a defensive back, or create a new rush lane for a linebacker. The goal is not always a clean, untouched path to the quarterback. Often, it is simply making the quarterback uncomfortable.

Cashman explained that philosophy when discussing the Vikings’ young defensive linemen.

“Sometimes you don’t even need to win clean and get on an edge,” Cashman said. “If you can just compress the pocket, that’s a very uncomfortable position for the quarterback to be in.”

Sunday night demonstrated the other side of the equation. If the front compresses the pocket and forces protection to account for Turner, Van Ginkel or a defensive tackle, Cashman can find room to attack. If a running back is late or loses his leverage, Cashman has the burst to turn it into a hit on the quarterback.

That pressure is part of why the Vikings’ quarterbacks have faced such a difficult camp environment. It is also why evaluating the offense requires context. The defense is not offering static looks or easy completions. It is forcing quarterbacks to handle communication, protection changes and pressure from every level.

Cashman is a major reason why.

Filling a larger communication role

The early portion of camp has also required Cashman and the rest of the defense to take on more responsibility.

Harrison Smith has not been around while he decides whether to return for another season. Cashman said the defense had anticipated that possibility in the spring, and the safeties and linebackers have had to take additional ownership of the checks and adjustments normally handled by the veteran safety.

That is not a small task in Flores’ defense.

Cashman described Flores as one of the league’s most innovative defensive minds. He laughed that there have been moments when players look at their coordinator and wonder whether a call can actually work.

“Yo, Flo, you’re nuts, man. We can’t do this,” Cashman said, recalling the players’ reaction.

Flores’ response, according to Cashman: “It’s going to work.”

It often does because the system is not simply built on unusual calls. It is built on players who understand why they are being used, know how to communicate with each other and can execute without hesitation once the ball is snapped.

Cashman has become one of the players who makes that possible.

The same role carries over into game situations. Cashman said Flores will ask the secondary and linebackers which checks they feel most comfortable using when the Vikings have a lead and an opponent is forced to throw. The coordinator may have his preferred calls, but he wants feedback from the players who must execute them.

That level of trust says something about Cashman’s standing within the defense.

Healthy, experienced and aggressive

Cashman missed four games early last season with a hamstring injury, but he said he felt good once he returned and did not deal with lingering issues through the rest of the year.

Now, he enters camp feeling healthy at a time when the Vikings need stability in the middle of their defense.

The surrounding cast has changed. Jamal Adams has arrived and begun working at both linebacker and safety. Rookie linebackers and defensive linemen are learning Flores’ demanding system. Smith’s future has remained unresolved. But Cashman is one of the constants entering his third season in his home state.

He knows the calls, understands the stress points and has enough experience to recognize the concepts offenses are trying to build toward.

That is particularly valuable against the NFC North’s more creative offenses. Cashman pointed to Bears head coach Ben Johnson as a difficult coordinator to prepare for because he can show an offense the same inside run or quick throw repeatedly, then use that tendency to set up a play-action shot later.

The Vikings will not solve that challenge merely by adding more blitzes. They will need linebackers who can identify formations, communicate quickly and avoid being manipulated by the same looks an offense has been showing all afternoon.

Cashman is central to that effort.

The production, and the coming decision

Cashman has produced since arriving in Minnesota.

Across 27 starts in two seasons, Cashman has recorded 256 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, 14 quarterback hits, 6.5 sacks, 10 passes defensed, an interception and a forced fumble. He totaled 144 tackles in only 13 games last season due to his hamstring injury. Projected across 17 games, that pace would have put him around 188 tackles, a total that would rank inside the top 10 in NFL history for a single season.

The advanced grades support the picture of a well-rounded linebacker. Pro Football Focus gave Cashman a 72.0 overall defensive grade in 2024, including a 76.3 mark against the run and a 72.0 pass-rush grade across 947 snaps. His overall grade dipped to 63.6 last season, but his 83.4 tackling grade and 75.4 run-defense grade showed that he remained a reliable player when healthy.

That production gives the Vikings a decision to make soon. Cashman is entering the final year of his contract and could reasonably become the next extension candidate after Brian O’Neill. The case is straightforward: he knows Flores’ system, has become one of its communicators and produces in every phase of linebacker play.

It is not an automatic decision. Minnesota recently committed significant money to Eric Wilson, and second-round rookie Jake Golday was drafted to become part of the linebacker group’s long-term future. Cashman also has an injury history that may encourage the Vikings to let another season play out before committing to a new deal.

Still, the next several months could make the argument difficult to ignore. If Cashman stays healthy and continues to play the way he has since joining the Vikings, the club will be deciding not whether he matters to their defense, but how much they are willing to invest to keep him at its center.

A pressure package with a purpose

Flores’ defense can look chaotic from the outside. It is designed to. But the Vikings do not want chaos from their own players. Instead, they want clarity, speed and aggression.

Cashman’s Sunday night performance illustrated what that looks like when it works.

The defense created pressure from Cashman, Turner, Van Ginkel, Ivan Pace Jr., Jalen Redmond and even rookie cornerback Charles Demmings, who recorded a would-be sack on a blitz. That is the type of distribution Flores wants. An offense cannot simply slide protection toward one edge rusher when the linebacker might be coming through the middle or a defensive back might be added to the rush.

For Cashman, the opportunity is to turn that complexity into production.

He does not need to lead the team in sacks to be essential. But when he can cover, communicate, fit the run and consistently threaten the quarterback, the Vikings can make every other part of the pressure package more dangerous.

Sunday night was only one practice. It did not decide anything.

It did, however, offer a reminder of what Cashman is becoming for this defense: not merely a productive linebacker, but one of the players who makes Brian Flores’ most aggressive ideas possible.