Blake Cashman tightened his cleat a little bit more and listened to the voice in his head.
It was halftime of Minnesota's game across the pond in Week 5. The Vikings led future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Jets 17-7, and Cashman was resolute on fighting through the pain.
The Vikings Mike linebacker knows injuries come with the territory because they were the story of his first three NFL seasons. They sent him to Injured Reserve for 18 games on the Jets; he played in half as many contests on defense for New York.
Except, this injury stumped him.
"It's something I've never experienced before," Cashman said standing in front of his locker Thursday.
The 28-year-old Eden Prairie native has been through the wringer of soft-tissue injuries, missing dozens of games in six years because of a torn labrum in his shoulder, torn groin and injuries to both hamstrings.
In the London Game against the team that drafted him 157th overall in 2019, Cashman was afflicted by a foreign foe: turf toe. He recounted Thursday that he was possibly hurt early in the second quarter. The injury appeared to happen on the game's third kickoff, right after Minnesota pulled ahead 10-0 via Andrew Van Ginkel's dazzling 63-yard pick six of Rodgers with a couple minutes left in the opening frame.
When the kickoff was fielded at New York's 3-yard line, Cashman sprinted down and wrestled with a double-team block by Jets wide receiver Irvin Charles and linebacker Marcelino McCrary-Ball. As Jets kick returner Isaiah Davis flew past Cashman, the Vikings linebacker's lower-half got inadvertently hit by teammate Kamu Grugier-Hill; he gimped away from the scene, hesitant to put his weight on both feet.
Incredibly, Cashman didn't miss a beat, playing every one of the Vikings 19 snaps on defense the rest of the first half. He even was involved on three tackles, including a solo stop of Jets running back Braelon Allen on the initial play after the injury, and helped rookie Dallas Turner thwart Allen on a fourth-and-2.
At the break, his gritty inner monologue was activated.
"We're going to go ball, it's the second half," he recalled thinking to himself. "Worry about this later."
By definition, Cashman balled. He made five tackles and didn't leave the field in Minnesota's 23-17 win.
On second-and-10 at New York's 14 with 6:19 to go in the third quarter, he submitted a viral individual effort – doing all the verbs; blasting and spinning and turning and diving, ultimately disrupting Rodgers mid-throwing motion and forcing a key incompletion. Cashman looked very much like an action hero.
In hindsight, he more closely resembled a superhero. He literally launched himself off an injured big toe.
It's the type of play the Vikings have missed from Cashman the last three weeks in losses against the Lions and Rams and eight-point win over the Colts. Their usual green dot has been rehabbing one of NFL players' most dreaded injuries. Alas, today at Jacksonville, Cashman is active again, ready to rejoin his heartbeat and communication center roles in Minnesota's menacing defense. But his return doesn't mean he's 100% healed. Turf toe can be chronic.
"It's always going to be a work in progress," said Cashman, adding he won't risk re-injury if he's not ready. "It's a violent game we play. Things continue to come up or get re-aggravated. As long as I'm feeling good enough to go, good enough to put my team in a good position to win, I'm going to be out there. I would never selfishly make the decision. … I'm always going to be smart with how I'm feeling."
Early in Cashman's career, he would have told himself, "throw some dirt on it," he said.
That mindset is ingrained in players. It's required in certain instances. It's what pushes them to shrug off pain in between whistles and sometimes neglect the severity of an injury until the smoke settles.
"I think that happens a lot," Cashman confessed. "That's just the kind of people we are, too. We're competitive, we're grinders and after games we start discovering things we didn't really notice."
This version of Cashman, however, is patient. When he was younger, he said he rushed back to the huddle when he was hesitant about his health and foolishly cost himself games. His approach has changed. He sees the fuller picture – what he and the Vikings can do – and knows the road takes time.
Learning that truth is "part of the process of developing and growing in this league," Cashman said.
Cashman's maturity has come a long way from his Jets days, but his ability has always existed.
Vikings sack leader Jonathan Greenard held the same distinction in Houston when Cashman was traded from the Jets to the Texans in 2022. He didn't know of the former Minnesota Gophers star but was impressed with Cashman when his role evolved from special teams standout to leading tackler in 2023.
"They said, 'When he's able to be on the field, he can play.' You hear that all the time, but when he got on the field with us last year, I was like, 'This kid can go.' Not just from a see-ball, get-ball [standpoint]," Greenard shared. "He's very intelligent; has a good mind for the game; [and] a natural feel for the ball.
"A true field general, honestly," Greenard added. "When he's on the same page with us, we're rolling."
During his recovery, Cashman has leaned on his support system in the building and loved ones at home. He credited the Vikings Player Health and Performance staff for creating a great plan with trainers from the get-go and said he's doing everything in his control to be available for as many games as possible.
"I've been living in the training room. I might as well have pitched a tent in there!" he quipped.
The nature of turf toe must be emphasized. While there's variations – some notably worse than others – as there are for many kinds of injuries, turf toe historically is an ailment that's managed and not fixed without long periods of rest (or surgery). Cashman was afforded 35 days after the Jets game.
There's numerous instances of players managing and competing with turf toe. A couple of the more iconic include Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes playing with it in the Chiefs loss to Tampa Bay in Super Bowl LV and late quarterback Steve McNair surviving it all year to lead the Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV.
Vikings stars Harrison Smith and Justin Jefferson have had varying bouts. Smith missed eight games on IR in 2013, his second NFL season, because of turf toe. Jefferson had a milder case in 2022, overextending his big toe in a massive, game-changing performance at Buffalo, but was on the field the very next week.
An important step for Cashman is he must "learn to trust" his toe, again. He noted it's painful, but worse than the pain is the initial difficulty of making simple football movements: jumping, cutting, exploding.
"Everything is connected on a chain in your leg, so when you lose that power it's really hard to go out and do your job at a high level; do your job at the level that's demanded on Sundays," Cashman said.
Once the ligaments around his big toe scarred up enough to begin simulating those motions, Cashman found "loading your toe and having to really push off when it's in full flexion" was extremely challenging. At the start, he felt himself scaling down in change-of-direction drills as his body tried protecting itself.
With time, he regained strength, balance and confidence in his mobility.
"That's why we do a lot of different exercises and things that kind of simulate what I do on the field, to just kind of get that muscle memory and that trust back, and it's definitely been working," Cashman said.
One silver lining to Cashman's three-game absence is the Vikings defense discovered ways to adapt.
"We had some guys that were asked to do things that maybe they weren't too comfortable with, kind of playing out of position, but that's the type of guys we have in this locker room: whatever is going to help the team give us the best chance to win," Cashman detailed, mentioning he's proud of the group overall.
He reaffirmed: "I think everyone stepped up and has performed at a high level."
Second-year linebacker Ivan Pace, Jr., wore the green dot and did a "wonderful job" in his stead, Cashman said. A collection of other guys rotated in as off-ball linebackers: Grugier-Hill played 33 snaps over the three weeks; starting safety Joshua Metellus played 62% of his snaps in the box according to Pro Football Focus; and Van Ginkel dropped back from his normal edge stance, logging 27 snaps in the space Cashman dominates, which is three more than "Gink" played "out of position" in the first five games.
The adjustments culminated with the club's sixth win this year and defensive return-to-form on Sunday Night Football, when Minnesota overwhelmed Indianapolis' run game, limited the Colts to two field goals and kept them out of the red zone entirely – thanks largely to the flexibility and focus of players.
"At this level of football, it's really hard to put guys in different positions – guys that play on the line have to play off the ball, like that's super challenging – but I think they owned the new responsibilities," Cashman said. "Honestly, now we have different tools, I think, in our bag that we can use going forward."
It's obvious the Vikings are strongest with Cashman flying around. He's able to mask some of the defense's vulnerabilities with tremendous instincts in zone coverage, nifty blitzing skills and solid burst.
Head Coach Kevin O'Connell on Friday divulged having Pace and Cashman on the field together gives Minnesota forceful looks in its base and nickel defenses. Both linebackers have endured tough injury stretches (Pace was inactive Weeks 3-4), resulting in them playing beside each other for only 19.4% of the team's 539 defensive snaps. Still, the Vikings front-seven has excelled, yielding the second fewest yards rushing per game in the NFL (81.9) and fewest touchdowns on the ground (3). Prior to being sidelined, Cashman paced the team in tackles (40) and was tied for the lead with five passes defended. Upon his re-arrival, Cashman is fifth on the team in tackles – Pace raised the bar to 50 – and tied for third in pass breakups.
Above all else, O'Connell longed for the communication and consistency factor that Cashman brings.
"I just want to credit him for the work he's put in to get back and stay totally and completely present," he said. "I feel like Cash' has been totally into it, in the mix, and [Sunday] will be a very seamless transition."
