Blake Cashman has a pretty good feel for what the Vikings mean to Minnesota. He grew up in Eden Prairie, played for the Golden Gophers from 2015-18, and now he’s in his third season with the team he followed long before he wore the helmet.
That connection hits a little differently when the team is rolling. Minnesota is 5-0, and the defense has been the engine behind it all.
The unit sits first in EPA/play and first in DVOA, with Cashman playing a major role in the surge. He has 2.5 sacks and a 29.5 QB pressure rate, which leads all players with at least 30 pass-rush snaps.
The Vikings’ offense has also started to inch forward, and that matters because the schedule is about to get a lot rougher. Minnesota comes out of this week facing the Lions, Bills, Packers, and 49ers in succession, a stretch that will tell a lot about whether this start can turn into something bigger.
Cashman isn’t shy about what that bigger picture looks like. On NFL Spotlight With Ari Meirov, he said, "If we win a Super Bowl, I might run for governor," He added, "That's something that, obviously, we are always working for; it's always on our minds, something I've dreamed about being able to hoist that Lombardi Trophy, doing the parade in downtown (Minneapolis). I mean, I can't think of any better moment than that."
He followed that up with a bigger point about what a title would mean beyond the locker room: "What would be so exciting about that is how much it would mean not just to the Minnesota Vikings fans, but to the state of Minnesota."
For now, the Vikings’ path is simple enough: keep the defense humming, get more from the offense, and prove they can hang with playoff-level teams. If they can do that, the dream Cashman described starts looking a lot more real.
In Other News...
Vikings Rookie Could Be Forcing A Linebacker Decision
Jake Golday has spent most of his first NFL season on the margins of the Vikings defense, but the rookie linebacker is starting to make a case for a larger role. With the team coming out of its bye week, Minnesota has reason to take a harder look at its depth at linebacker, especially with defensive coordinator Brian Flores signaling that the younger players will need to help carry the load moving forward.
Goldays recent work has put him on the radar at the same time Ivan Pace Jr. has seen his own snaps trimmed, creating a little more room for movement in the rotation. The Vikings do not need to force anything if the fit is not right, but they do need answers as the season stretches on, and Golday has put himself in position to be part of that discussion. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Fans Are Reopening The J.J. McCarthy Debate Fast
J.J. McCarthy finally got a meaningful run of snaps in Week 6, and it did not take long for the old Minnesota questions to come roaring back. In his first significant game action for the Giants against the Saints, he completed 11 of 21 passes for 243 yards and a touchdown, a reminder of the talent that made him such a talked-about prospect in the first place.
For Vikings fans, the reaction has been familiar: a mix of what might have been and what never really had a chance to fully develop in Minnesota. McCarthys brief run with the Vikings was cut short by injuries, and even now the conversation around him is less about where he is than what the Vikings were able to see before everything went sideways. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings' 5-0 Start Just Reopened A Huge Quarterback Debate
A 5-0 start has a way of changing the conversation, and for Minnesota it has revived one of the biggest questions hanging over the franchise: what comes next at quarterback? The Vikings are winning now, but none of their current passers is signed beyond this season, which has pushed the long-term outlook back into focus even as the team enjoys its best early run.
One name that keeps surfacing in the speculation is Justin Herbert, whose profile still fits the kind of franchise solution teams dream about when they think bigger than a single season. Herbert has not been at his peak lately, but his talent and contractual status make him the sort of option that could alter Minnesota's trajectory if he ever became available. For now, though, the more likely path may be the one the Vikings have already leaned into: keeping the quarterback room relatively affordable while developing a drafted talent like J.J. McCarthy. [Read more 🡒]