Vikings rumors: Pro Bowl trade targets, Kevin O'Connell shuts down Blake Cashman report

While nowhere near as high-profile as the trades made by the New York Jets, who reunited Davante Adams with Aaron Rodgers, or the Buffalo Bills, who gave Josh Allen a true WR1 in Amari Cooper, the Minnesota Vikings did make a deal this week, bringing Cam Akers back to town in a trade with the Houston Texans.

But that was obviously more of an overall depth move, as the acquisition of Akers isn't expected to affect the touches of Aaron Jones, Ty Chandler, or even Myles Gaskin.

As far as a blockbuster trade is concerned, it's unclear whether Minnesota general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will make one between now and the November 5 deadline.

After all, as the Vikings are one of just two remaining undefeated teams, the other being the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, and have scored the sixth-most points per game while allowing the third-fewest, they don't really need to add players at this point.

Even so, additions and upgrades can always be made, and Minnesota has certainly been linked to several Pro Bowl-caliber players in recent weeks, mainly on the defensive side of the football. But before we get into those, let's first focus on a player already on the roster.

Kevin O'Connell shut down a report saying Blake Cashman wouldn't play against the Lions in Week 7

With the Vikings' high-profile NFC North showdown with the Detroit Lions just a few days away, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported on Wednesday that linebacker Blake Cashman is expected to miss Sunday's matchup with Detroit and maybe even the Week 8 contest on Thursday Night Football against the Los Angeles Rams due to a case of turf toe.

However, a short time later, in his weekly Wednesday press conference, head coach Kevin O'Connell somewhat shut down the report. He acknowledged that Cashman, who leads the team in total tackles with 40, did sustain the injury in the Vikings' Week 5 win in London over the New York Jets. But what he didn't do was rule him out against the Lions.

"He'll be kind of day-to-day, week-to-week as he deals with that," O'Connell stated. "We really don't know yet, but don't think it will be a long-term injury, with IR or anything involved in that. We'll just hopefully have him work through it and get back on the field as soon as possible. Don't really know about his status for this week. We'll see if he can get some limited work in throughout the week and maybe have a chance to go."

The report may very well end up being true, but according to the Vikings' official injury report, all we know now is that Cashman didn't practice on Wednesday.

Budda Baker could be a trade target for Minnesota

At this point in time, all signs point to veteran safety Budda Baker and the Arizona Cardinals parting ways in the near future.

The six-time Pro Bowler is playing on the final year of the four-year, $59 million extension he signed ahead of the 2020 campaign, and as the two sides couldn't reach an agreement on another one this past offseason, it seems logical that the Cardinals would deal him instead of getting nothing by letting him waltz into free agency.

Several teams have been linked to the two-time All-Pro, the Vikings being one of them.

While the Minnesota defense has been fantastic in most aspects, Brian Flores' unit has not been great against the pass, at least in terms of yards allowed. The Vikings have allowed 263 yards per game in their first five outings, the third-most in the NFL, but have offset some of that damage with a league-leading 11 interceptions.

Again, the Vikings don't necessarily need someone like Baker, who already has 60 tackles on the season, but his presence certainly wouldn't hurt anything. Likely future Hall of Famer Harrison Smith is still playing at a high level, and Camryn Bynum, now in his fourth season, is coming into his own and has two of Minnesota's 11 picks, already matching his career high.

Baker would bring a little extra physicality to the secondary and would allow Flores to run some different schemes to confuse opponents, which Minnesota will need given the overall strength of the prolific offensive units in the NFC North.

The Vikings have also been linked to Dexter Lawrence, and they could actually make it work

If the Vikings need a genuine upgrade anywhere, it's probably at defensive tackle.

One of the big names to come up as it pertains to Vikings trade rumors has been Dexter Lawrence of the New York Giants, who's already racked up 7.0 sacks this season, good for a tie for second in the league, the first of which came against the Vikings in Week 1.

But even if the Giants were willing to move the two-time Pro Bowler, which likely won't be the case, making a deal like this would prove to be very difficult for Minnesota. The team only has three picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, one of which is their first-round selection, which they probably don't want to give up.

But if Adofo-Mensah was willing to part with it, the Vikings could make this work. Yes, Lawrence has some big cap hits coming over the next few seasons, roughly $77.9 million total over the next three years. But Minnesota could actually afford it, as they'll have about $76 million in cap space this upcoming offseason, according to Over The Cap.

It's a long shot, for sure, but it's a move the Vikings could pull off if they wanted to. And given the strength of this team that may genuinely have a real shot to make the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance in 48 years, it may just be worth it.