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(Photo by Ellen Schmidt/Getty Images)

The Minnesota Vikings ended their 2025 season on a five-game winning streak, with the defense playing a major role. In those five games, the Vikings’ defense allowed only one team to score more than 20 points.

Defensive coordinator Brian Flores is the mastermind behind the Vikings defense, and after speculation regarding whether he’d return or land a head coaching job, the 45-year-old is back in Minnesota.

On the May 18 edition of the “Jim Rome Show,” Vikings linebacker Blake Cashman shared his thoughts on Flores and his impact on the Minnesota defense as the group looks to take the success from last season and deploy that over the entire 2026 campaign.

“I don’t think there is anybody happier on our defense than me when I saw he was going to be coming back,” Cashman told Rome. “Obviously, for his career and himself and his family legacy, I’d love to see him be a head coach one day. But he is so fun to play for.

“I love his aggressive attitude, how he approaches game plans, his coaching style, and how he structures our practices. It’s so specific to what we’re working on that week, and I think it translates well onto the field.”

Last season for the Vikings, Cashman played 789 total snaps for Flores while earning a 63.6 overall PFF defensive grade, recording 95 solo tackles and generating 19 total pressures, including three sacks as a blitzer.

Brian Flores Is Getting the Most Out of the Vikings Players

Moreover, Cashman noted that Flores can get the most out of players to help them reach another level.

“You see the growth in players, and I can 1,000 percent say since working under Brian Flores, I’ve become astronomically smarter as a football player,” Cashman added.

“That’s something, from Day 1 in meetings, whether you’re a free agent or rookie, he says: ‘We’re going to have fun, we’re going to play with joy, and we’re going to be a football team with a high football IQ.’ He and his staff are just great teachers of the game, and that’s obviously very important at this level.”

Blake Cashman on Minnesota Culture Ahead of 2026 Season

Minnesota is looking to get back to the playoffs after missing out last season. Cashman noted that the team is building a culture that can take them where they want to go as the Vikings look to challenge for the NFC North division title.

“Great teams are led by the locker room,” Cashman said. “Players have to lead. And this organization, this team does exactly that, and we just bring people along, whether they are free-agency pickups, guys that are brought in off the streets from maybe a workout the team might have, or draft picks.

“Everybody is brought on by the players when guys join the team. They fall in line, and that standard always seems to be met. It’s a very close group, high professionalism. It’s special to me because I’ve seen the other end of it.”

It will be interesting to see whether the culture this team is building over the next few months translates into wins on the field.