Blake Cashman knew something was wrong as soon as it happened on Oct. 6 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

After playing through the pain could during the game itself, he remembers sitting in the locker room at halftime contemplating how he wanted to handle it. He decided to simply tighten up his cleat and get back out there.

“You’ve got to just thug it out and finish the game,” Cashman said. “I was like, ‘We’re going to go ball and worry about this later.’”

Though the Vikings ultimately earned a 23-17 win over the New York Jets, they ended up losing Cashman in the process. He was evaluated after the Vikings returned to Minnesota and diagnosed with turf toe. He has missed the games against the Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Rams, and Indianapolis Colts, as a result.

“It was something I hadn’t experienced before,” Cashman said. “I had no idea what it was like.”

What is turf toe? Think of it more or less a joint sprain in the foot.

The stretching or tearing of ligaments in the big toe, specifically, causes sharp pain in and around the area, and makes it incredibly difficult to push off the ground in some scenarios. That might help explain why Cashman has been out for the past month.

“The big toe has a lot of mechanics in terms of jumping, cutting, balance, power,” Cashman said. ” Just losing that makes it really hard to go out and do my job at a high level.”

The good news is Cashman returned to practice this week at TCO Performance Center and he seems to be on track to make his return to game action when the Vikings play the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday afternoon at EverBank Stadium.

“As long as I’m feeling good enough to put my team in a position to win, I’m going to be out there,” Cashman said. “I would never selfishly make the decision to go out there when I know I can’t perform at a level that I need to perform.”

As much as he’s wanted to be competing with his teammates over the past month, Cashman knew he wasn’t at 100% and wouldn’t have been able to do what he does best. He also operated with caution so not to risk further injury like he did early in his career with the New York Jets.

“I’ve always been the type of person to rub some dirt on it and say, ‘Let’s go,’” Cashman said. “There was a time I rushed back when I didn’t know if I was ready to go and it ended up costing me more games than I would’ve liked.”

He wasn’t going to make the same mistake this time around. Not that the Vikings would’ve let him.

“I put a lot of trust into our sports medicine staff,” Cashman said. “We’re going to continue to do what they have planned for me and make sure I’m available for as many games as possible.”

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