An Eden Prairie Eagle is returning to the Twin Cities to play for his hometown NFL team.
The Minnesota Vikings signed linebacker Blake Cashman, a five-year NFL veteran from Eden Prairie, who was available on the free agent market following two seasons with the Houston Texans.
Cashman starred on Mike Grant’s Eden Prairie Eagles teams, which enjoyed a run of four consecutive state football championships from 2011 to 2014, coinciding with Cashman’s freshman through senior seasons at Eden Prairie.
A fifth-round draft pick by the New York Jets in 2019, Cashman received his ticket home with a reported three-year deal worth up to $25.5 million, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
“Words can’t describe how happy I am to be back home,” Cashman posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Cashman led the Texans with 106 combined tackles, 56 of them solo, along with two sacks and an interception in 2023, while starting in a career-high 13 games.
Houston made their first playoff appearance in four seasons, trouncing the Cleveland Browns 45-14 in the Wildcard round before falling to the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional round.
Cashman, along with Eden Prairie teammates and NFL players Carter Coughlin and Ryan Connelly, and Eden Prairie Eagles head coach Mike Grant, holds an annual youth football camp at Eden Prairie High School.
“It’s the best time to be here in Minnesota,” Cashman said during the camp last June. “I love being home. So, whenever I get a chance to get away, and don’t have to work, don’t have a football schedule, I like to be home or with my friends and family.”
Cashman will no longer have to commute from Texas after signing with the Vikings, a team undergoing a retooling of their aging defense after ranking 16th in the NFL in total yards per game in 2023.
A 2015 graduate of Eden Prairie High School, Cashman attended the University of Minnesota – initially as a walk-on – playing one season for head coach Jerry Kill, one for head coach Tracy Claeys, and two seasons for current head coach P.J. Fleck.
Cashman earned a scholarship in the spring of 2017 ahead of his senior season. Fleck shared a video of the occasion on X to welcome Cashman back to Minnesota.
“Welcome back home @blockayyy!!” Fleck posted. “I’ll never forget this special moment when we surprised you with a scholarship!!”
Cashman responded on X, calling the event “an amazing memory I’ll never forget.”
Coughlin re-signs with Giants
In related NFL news, Eden Prairie’s Carter Coughlin signed a one-year deal with the New York Giants. Coughlin was a seventh-round pick by the Giants in 2020 and has appeared in 55 games, compiling 41 tackles over the past four seasons.
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