EAGAN, Minn. — Blake Cashman turned Head Coach Kevin O'Connell's hope into reality.
The Vikings Green Dot linebacker was honored as the NFC Defensive Player of the Week on Wednesday, the NFL announced, for his mouth-covering performance Sunday against Indianapolis.
Cashman recorded 12 tackles, four passes defended, three quarterback hits and two sacks, spearheading another smothering game by Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores' group that keyed a 16-10 win over the Colts and preserved Minnesota's undefeated start (the only team without a loss).
His second career POTW award — Cash' won AFC defensive honors in Week 6 in 2023 on the Texans after notching 15 tackles and two passes defended — is the Vikings fifth weekly award in a five-game span.
You might recall this is how O'Connell kicked off his Week 7 mid-week press conference:
"I told our guys if they had an elite bye week, maybe we could win it five weeks in a row, but unfortunately that did not happen. So, we've got to start a new streak this week, hopefully."
The Eden Prairie native is just the third NFL player over the past 30 years to collect at least two sacks and four passes defended in one game, joining Alex Brown in 2005 and Robert Jones in 1998.
Thanks to the pair of sacks, Cashman already has tied his single-season high of 4.5 set in 2024. Since signing with Minnesota in free agency that year, Cashman is one of 11 players league-wide to post 300-plus tackles (310). He reached that threshold in 33 games; the fewest among the other 10 players is 38 games.
Additionally, Cashman owns the most sacks (11) in that span out of the Top 60 tacklers; the only other player with double-digit QB takedowns from that collection of defenders is teammate Eric Wilson (10.5).
Cash' is the ringleader of the No. 1 scoring defense (12.3 points per game) that's on an epic pace.
"He's doing a lot of things well as a pass rusher, in coverage, and obviously all of the communication that we put on him," Flores said. "He's certainly bailed me out a few times as far as either not getting the call in quickly enough and he makes the call or changing a call mid-play based on changing the front, or moving the front based on something he sees. He's done a great job.
"I can't talk about Blake without talking about [inside linebackers coach/senior defensive assistant] Mike Siravo, who's been with him the entire time and really done a great job with all of the linebackers and helping them become an extension of us as coaches," Flores added. "But Blake's certainly playing really good football for us, and I'm happy that he's getting some of the attention that I think he deserves and he's deserved for a while now."
Cashman's recognition raises O'Connell's rate of games with a weekly award-winner to 31%.
23 NFC Players of the Week under Kevin O'Connell in 74 regular-season games
2026: Week 7 vs. Indianapolis: Blake Cashman (Defensive)
2026: Week 5 at New Orleans: Byron Murphy, Jr. (Defensive)
2026: Week 4 vs. Miami: Will Reichard, K (Special Teams)
2026: Week 3 at Tampa Bay: Myles Price, WR (Special Teams)
2026 Week 2 at Chicago: Isaiah Rodgers, CB (Special Teams)
2025 Week 17 vs. Detroit: Harrison Smith, S (Defensive)
2025 Week 9 at Detroit: Levi Drake Rodriguez, DL (Special Teams)
2025 Week 3 vs. Cincinnati: Isaiah Rodgers, CB (Defensive)
2025 Week 1 at Chicago: J.J. McCarthy, QB (Offensive)
2024 Week 16 at Seattle: Andrew Van Ginkel, OLB (Defensive)
2024 Week 14 vs. Atlanta: Sam Darnold, QB (Offensive)
2024 Week 3 vs. Houston: Jonathan Greenard, OLB (Defensive)
2023 Week 14 at Las Vegas: Ivan Pace, Jr., LB (Defensive)
2023 Week 9 at Atlanta: Joshua Dobbs, QB (Offensive)
2023 Week 7 vs. San Francisco: Camryn Bynum, S (Defensive)
2023 Week 6 at Chicago: Jordan Hicks, LB (Defensive)
2022 Week 16 vs. New York Giants: Greg Joseph, K (Special Teams)
2022 Week 15 vs. Indianapolis: Kirk Cousins, QB (Offensive)
2022 Week 12 vs. New England: Kene Nwangwu, RB/KR (Special Teams)
2022 Week 10 at Buffalo: Justin Jefferson, WR (Offensive)
2022 Week 8 vs. Arizona: Za'Darius Smith, OLB (Defensive)
2022 Week 6 at Miami: Ryan Wright, P (Special Teams)
2022 Week 4 vs. New Orleans in London: Greg Joseph, K (Special Teams)
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