By: Rob Kleifield

"I'm so proud," said Mike Sherels, the former Gophers assistant who recruited Cashman to Minnesota, promised to be in his corner as a walk-on beginning a steep climb, and eventually endorsed Cashman to the Vikings.

In watching the 29-year-old these days, Sherels said, "There are several moments of pride where it's like 'Ah, I remember when he was doing that for the first time. That's awesome. Look at how far he's come!' "

Sherels coached linebackers at the U of M when Cashman was an "athlete" at Eden Prairie debating a commitment to Mankato State. Sherels had no clue about the future fifth-round draft pick of the Jets until he attended an E.P. basketball game after Cashman's senior football season. Sherels was there to scout a teammate but was drawn to a football player masquerading as a hooper who had "probably a few too many fouls out there for the basketball coach's liking." Sherels thought: "Oooh, who is that kid?"

He remembered Grant saying, "You might be able to get him."

So, Sherels turned on the tape, and then he couldn't turn it off. Cashman was relentless.

"He just checked so many boxes," Sherels stated. "He was exactly what we wanted, certainly as an in-state walk-on but in a walk-on in general, somebody who was a very near borderline scholarship kid."

Sherels had initial questions, like where Cashman, a cornerback and wide receiver for 90 percent of high school, factored into a Division I defense. Was he too small to play linebacker, or too slow to play safety?

The coach said he was pumped, though, to bring in a player with a feel for coverage and a short-area burst that could hide mistakes as he was challenged to do new things, like fitting gaps in the run game.

Described by Sherels as "confident but not in a cocky way" from their first conversation and handshake, Cash' spent a season in the Gophers safeties room, harnessing his footwork and putting on size. In 2016, his muscle got him moved up into the box, and his speed relative to other linebackers became an outlier.

Sherels' favorite on-field memory of Cashman stemmed from a head-to-head between them after the learning linebacker was overthinking in practice, jockeying for "perfection" when he really just had to buckle down and better understand the concept being taught. "At one point," Sherels recalled, "I said, 'Blake, I cannot put you in if you can't get this right.' And he looked at me and he goes, 'I wouldn't put me in either!' and just kind of walked off." Two weeks later, after some convincing practices, Cashman played his first linebacker snaps in a runaway win at Maryland. He enjoyed a sack and a QB hurry on five plays.

Sherels drew the same conclusion as everyone who's exposed to Cashman: "We have to find ways to get this kid on the field."

Teammates, like teammates do, teased him because the sack happened in a rush of adrenaline.

"They were laughing," Cashman remembered with a smile, "because I went through [an offensive lineman], like bullied him over. Then I ran through the [running] back and chased down the quarterback. I looked like somebody crashing out, relentlessly pursuing the quarterback."

The fact Cashman wasn't supposed to blitz was an added thrill. "[Sherels] always told me, 'Let that play define your play style and your tenacious attitude as you continue to play the game of football," he said.

A mind that jumps off the tape

Personal growth goes hand-in-hand with Cashman's maturation as a football player.

The discussion transitioned to an examination of habits, mere days before Minnesota walked into the Lions Den as heavy underdogs and walked out as winners. Cashman's impact was ubiquitous, with 14 tackles to show for it (his most as a Viking yet). The defense's primary source of communication got real, offering a message for anyone that's ever reached the point that was falsely pre-determined as being it.

"You may start having success and feel like you hit the mountaintop," Cashman said, "but guess what? There's another little valley and another peak to climb. That's just how I've always looked at my career.

"Because if you would have [said to] me my third year in the league, like, 'Hey, one day you're going to sign with a team, and they're going to make you the Green Dot, and you're going to get more money, more opportunity, you're going to be less stressed, and your mind's going to be at ease,' like, I think it's the complete opposite," he continued, sitting up straighter. "But that's because of the mentality I have where it's like, 'No. Now you've got to chase more success. Now you've got higher expectations. You have more people counting on you.' And it's that attacking mindset that you've got to keep. So [that's why] I love, I guess, [learning about] other people's stories and how they operate and how they think."

The astute judgement, he said, has been influenced by a broad genre of successful people. He's a bookworm and a podcast fan; he values lessons from a regimented lifestyle, like the ones practiced by service members and passed along in military tales. If a billionaire's first office was a garage, Cashman is interested to hear more, so that he's able to apply principles and strategies to his life on and off the field.

"The story, to me, is that character matters and that he has the character to be that kid that works so hard to fulfill his dream," said Grant, one of the sons of legendary former Vikings Head Coach Bud Grant and one of three prep coaches in the state with 400 career wins. "He had some insane instincts that helped him, but I think that is the best story. … Everybody told him he couldn't do it, and here he is."

Cashman is certain he is here for that exact reason. He is inspired by others' skepticism and his beliefs.

"When you don't get the recognition you feel like you deserve, like, I think it's almost a good thing to take it personal because then you stay hungry and you go into each day trying to get better, attacking it rather than being complacent," he said with a striking resolve. "Because if you're complacent and you're getting all the recognition, that kind of naturally makes people a little bit softer, which kills success."

That's what Cashman is seeking more than anything. His measurement, though, isn't as elementary as win/loss or finishing as a box score MVP. He doesn't evaluate himself based on the number of tackles he makes. His job, he said, is to get Vikings defenders aligned properly so they're able to execute their plays.

"If that aspect is messy, I feel like I've already failed," Cashman shared. "And then on top of that, I feel like I'm my biggest critic; I want everything to be perfect, but that's just my [personality]. I'm a perfectionist – got a Type A mind. But it continues to push me, and the way I look at it, it's a good problem to have."

It definitely has served him kindly in his backyard.

Cashman handled 895 defensive snaps over 14 games in his debut season with the Vikings. He tallied career highs in total and solo tackles (112/68), sacks (4.5), quarterback hits (11) and passes defended (8). Most important to him, Minnesota's defense played connected, joyously producing at an elite level, thanks hugely to what Sherels touted as "Swiss Army knife skills" as a linebacker and a communicator.

Cashman is "a guy you want in your foxhole in the good times and the bad," Vikings linebackers coach Mike Siravo said. "Gritty. For all the good reasons. He's not a fake-energy guy. He's not a, 'Hey, I gotta be warm and fuzzy.' He's got an edge [about] him. Probably 'edge' is even a better word. He's just, just an edgy guy. Always kind of plays with an edge. I don't want to say he lives with an edge, but he's got grit."

Siravo credited his "every-day, salt-of-the-earth [approach]."

In the past few seasons, Cashman has transformed his reputation as an injury-prone traded player to special teams demon, and currently a soul-filled drumbeat of a defense that's treasured for its complexities.

Flores' group improved significantly in certain areas when Cashman assumed his normal run-stopping, pass-dropping, blitz-like-a-maniac duties in Week 7 against Philadelphia after recovering from a tweaked hamstring. Versus the Eagles, he helped stifle 2024 2,000-yard rusher Saquon Barkley (44 yards on 18 attempts), and in prime time a week later at the Chargers, Cash' led all players with 11 tackles (1 TFL). His masterpiece in the Motor City, which generated a 90.8 Pro Football Focus grade – his best in a game since scoring a 91.4 for the Texans in Week 3 of 2023 – demonstrated the entire scope of his capabilities.

On one first-and-10 in the first half, Cashman shocked 6-foot-7 Lions tackle Taylor Decker with a two-handed punch, quickly disengaged and brick-walled Lions RB David Montgomery in a cutback lane after a 1-yard gain. Cashman also was busy on blitzes, in one instance wrapping around the center and flushing QB Jared Goff into the arms of Levi Drake Rodriguez for a sack. The linebacker impacted weightier downs, as well, like a third-and-13 halfway through the third quarter. He scraped down the line, pursuing Montgomery on a toss sweep to the offense's left, and poked the ball free from a chase position once Montgomery pressed harder on the gas pedal. It was Cashman's first career forced fumble.

"Football makes a lot of sense to him globally, visually, so that he can play fast and unlock his athleticism. That's it to me," Siravo said, summarizing what 'Cash' does so well. "I think there's certain plays you see where there's a run fit that's not clean and he has the sense of timing, the blocker-to-ball-carrier timing and how it's going to unfold and how he needs to get his body there, either by contact or by a slip. Same in the pass game. He knows 'I'm in this zone. I can feel the quarterback, but I can feel this route (too).'

"And those reactions are, I don't want to call them instinctual (because Blake works on them), but the game slows down for him and what's in front of him makes sense to him," Siravo continued. "Football makes sense to him. When he learns a defense, he immediately knows all the pieces on the field and how the play, the offensive play, affects those pieces and [his responsibilities]. That jumps off the tape."

Home is the heart of Minnesota

Cashman reflects on his formative NFL years as just trying to stay afloat "in survival mode."

Admittedly a "sore loser" in his youth, he kept losing opportunities to nagging injuries in New York and didn't experience the jubilation of starting off 1-0 as a pro until going 5-0 in his first season with Minnesota.

So close to his support system the past year-and-a-half, Cashman is less stressed, less consumed by frustrations and attuned more to his body and mind and what they need, including freedom sometimes from football and overtraining. He has an unmistakable gratitude for his experiences – his "biggest teacher" in life – even the ones that prevented him from playing and felt unbearable as they happened.

"When I look back at my time, it's amazing how much just value, whether things are going good or bad, experience has when it comes to understanding the game and my football IQ," he said, emphasizing Vikings coaches are "some of the best" he's been around. "Where I'm at now compared to where I was at, say, my second year in the league, it's a night-and-day difference of how I see the game."

Cashman's coaches in Minnesota see the same player they were introduced to – one always willing to kick down doors to check off goals, one who encounters obstacles with a supreme self-belief.

"He's a tough human," Siravo said. "I don't mean the physical tough; he wouldn't be here if he weren't physically tough. He's a mentally tough guy who handles the strain of day-to-day life, day-to-day NFL at a high level with great consistency of his mental state, his attitude, his professionalism and productivity.

"I think his jump from '24 to this offseason and now, in terms of his confidence – not that he lacked confidence, but his comfort with what was going on and how Flo' calls [the defense], what we're looking for – his comfort has led to a great confidence," added Siravo, who quipped he watches cutups in a cave 24/7/365 and viewed Cashman as a great chess piece when he studied him in free agency. "He's always ahead of us now with his thoughts and questions and reactions. He's just way out ahead of it."

As locked in as Cashman looked on the road in Week 9 at Detroit, his finest hours as a Viking so far probably took shape Sept. 15 last season in his first U.S. Bank Stadium home game. Cashman played at a Pro Bowl level during a 23-17 win against then-reigning conference champion San Francisco, collecting 13 tackles, including one for a loss, a sack (one of his 10 career QB takedowns) and three pass breakups.

In doing so, Cashman became the first NFL defender since Vincent Rey in 2013, and only the fourth in history (also LaRon Landry in 2009 and Cashman's coach on the Texans, DeMeco Ryans, in 2006) to amass 12 or more tackles with one or more TFLs, one or more sacks and at least three PBUs in a game.

"Can I swear?" Rossi asked before vowing Cashman is a "[freaking] playmaker."

"He's one of my all-time favorites, just in terms of watching him play," Rossi offered, reminiscing over Cashman 72 hours before Michigan State visited Minnesota and fell to the Gophers in overtime. "He plays fast; he makes plays. Sometimes he takes chances but usually they end up going the right way."

Grant thought aloud, "Don't [coaches] just want winners? Blake was a winner in everything he ever did."

"He's a dude," Grant said, pausing for effect, knowing his choice of a single word to portray Cashman does justice. "He's just a baller. He's just a baller. That's what Blake is; he's just a dude, man, on the field."

And off it, Cashman is easily approachable. And his priorities make him a poster-worthy display of dependability.

Grant noted, "There's pro guys that are prima donnas, and Blake's not that way." Siravo elaborated, "He's just an all-around solid, stable human who does everything at a very high level and holds himself to a very high standard.

"I like it when guys get comfortable enough to vent [to you], to get angry about whatever, a play or something. And Blake is like that," Siravo added. "He's like talking to a grown-ass man about real stuff. He just says it like it is, and I love that."

Cashman's persona leaves an indelible impression, making it easy for people to vouch for him.

"My favorite memory off the field was when we were at a wedding and he's teaching my son how to rip his shirt off on the dance floor: 'You've got to rip it so the buttons fly!' " Sherels said, laughing over Cashman instructing his son Quinton, who was 7 years old then. "He was putting him up on his shoulders and just making him feel like he's on top of the world.

"We still talk," said Sherels, referring to Cashman as an "awesome dude" and a great friend of his family.

In the spring of 2024, following the linebacker's breakthrough in Houston, Sherels was hanging at his home with Flores of all people. The bond between the older brother of Vikings Legend Marcus Sherels, a punt return phenom, and the four-time Super Bowl Champion assistant coach formed like most adult friendships – through their children. As legend goes, during a daughters' playdate, Flores saw a commemorative piece of art in Sherel's basement: six linebackers and Sherels in a Gophers beanie.

Boys that Sherels coached into men in college, who made it to the NFL: Jonathan Celestin, Damien Wilson, Cashman, Kamal Martin, De'Vondre Campbell and Carter Coughlin. Flores knew of a couple.

And then he wondered, "Who are the rest?" So, Sherels gave the lowdown on each to Flores.

Intentionally saving 'Cash' for last, aware his guest was linebacker shopping, he redirected his gaze to the 6-foot-1, 235-pounder's painting and told Flores, " 'Blake Cashman. He's an unbelievable athlete.

"'He can do everything,' " Sherels continued with sincerity he thinks Flores trusted. "That was it. I didn't say, 'He'd be a perfect fit for your defense!' I thought [that], but typically a hard sell is not the way to go.

"It was just an off-handed comment that stuck in his head, and then when the time came to look at free-agent linebackers, I'm sure he saw [him] on that list, and he was like 'Oh this is Mike's guy. I'm going to put [on the tape]," Sherels added. "I hope he stays for a while, because it's a good match, those two."