Lewis Was Nowhere To Be Cine

Lewis Cine Expresses Confidence and Patience in His Injury Recovery
Aug 20, 2022; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings safety Lewis Cine. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports.

When the news that Harrison Smith was officially out of last Sunday’s game, Lewis Cine’s name came to mind as the obvious replacement. It wasn’t for no reason, as Cine is the first-ever draft pick for this new regime and had a great offseason, even getting some reps alongside Smith. But a knee injury prevented him from facing the Packers in Week 1, slowing down his progress.

Smith suffered the concussion during the Week 2 loss to the Eagles, but Cine got in for only one snap, with the others going to third-year player Josh Metellus. In the interviews before the Lions’ game, Kevin O’Connell and Ed Donatell didn’t say who would be the starter but that both should see some action. That’s exactly what didn’t happen because everyone who started in the secondary played the entire game, and, because Metellus started, the rookie only had special team duties.

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To be fair, Metellus was probably the best player on that secondary, finishing the game with 11 tackles, 1 interception, 2 passes defended, and the team’s highest PFF grade. But it’s no reason to keep a healthy, promising player off the field. If Metellus was having such a good game, let him and Cine play side-by-side. This defense is lacking explosiveness and speed, two things that Cine can bring, so why not test him?

One of the biggest criticisms that Zimmer faced was not playing rookies unless he had no options. It’s still a small sample size but after three games the only rookie with meaningful snaps is Ed Ingram. Cine has gotten little run, Andrew Booth is injured, Brian Asamoah is only playing special teams – I will talk about him shortly -, and Akayleb Evans subbed in for a couple of snaps when Cam Dantzler or Patrick Peterson was injured. Other than that, we’re only seeing vets on the field.

To conclude, let’s talk about LB Brian Asamoah; another rookie seeing very little playing time this year. n. Jordan Hicks is a better player as of today, but he’s not really fast and opposing offenses are torching the defense with deep passes. Asamoah may not have the technical coverage skills, but if he’s free to just run, cover, and tackle who’s in front of him, why not change things and see what happens?

Perhaps the rookies are still becoming accustomed to the Vikings defensive scheme, and that is why they aren’t seeing much playing time yet. However, it would make sense to see what the Vikings have in these young players, especially while the defense continues to give up big plays while they stand on the sidelines.

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