A Vikings Veteran May See Front Office Play Hardball
Vikings veteran Blake Cashman doesn’t have a ton of leverage if he’s pushing for an extension. Not, at least, after the recent roster decisions.
The LB1 was the only sure thing moving into March of 2025. What occurred around that time changed the linebacker spot considerably. Eric Wilson was given a meaty deal, Jake Golday got drafted, and Ivan Pace Jr. was given another year as an RFA. Those initial two names — Wilson and Golday — appear to make Cashman’s roster spot particularly precarious beyond the 2026 season.
Vikings Veteran Blake Cashman Could Walk
Most concerning for Cashman is that he has often worked through injury.
The 30-year-old defender is moving into his third season as a Viking. He has yet to play a full seventeen games, getting into action for fourteen games in 2024 and then thirteen games for 2025.
Prior to becoming a Viking, Cashman has played a maximum of sixteen games in a single season. He did so back in 2022 with the Texans. Part of what makes that effort notable is that he started a single game while playing in 149 snaps on defense. So, the sixteen games coincided with a modest offering of playing time.
Worse yet, the Vikings have made a pretty beefy commitment to Wilson. Wilson appears to be in the Twin Cities for a minimum of two seasons.
Obviously, Wilson is going to be on the roster for the upcoming season. He’ll do so for a cap charge sitting at $4,083,333, per Over the Cap. Wilson sees his cap charge swell to $8,833,333 in 2027. But, notably, there’s a catch: cutting Wilson would mean accepting a $9,026,667 dead money hit.
See the significance? Moving on from Wilson next year will mean depleting the cap space, not saving cap space. The strong suggestion is that the Minnesota Vikings fully intend on a minimum of two more years of Wilson playing linebacker.
Blake Cashman therefore sits in a tricky spot.
The veteran ‘backer is still a good player who gobbles up tackles and who moves well. Better yet, Cashman is a smart player who sees the green dot slapped onto his helmet, meaning he’s the player who corrals the Brian Flores call before articulating it to the defense more broadly. That’s all excellent stuff.
One nevertheless wonders if the two sides will find a price that makes sense. Already, there’s an older linebacker making good money. Can Cashman justify another strong contract? Or, perhaps, does he find better money somewhere else?
Tallying up the statistics of the 2025 season means seeing some beefy numbers. Cashman offered up 144 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 quarterback hits, 4 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 pass defended. When available, the linebacker is a rock solid football player.
Blake Cashman will turn 31 on May 10th of 2027. We should know by that date whether the Vikings and the player were able to arrive at a middle-ground solution to keep him employed in the Twin Cities.
