Lewis Cine. What’s the Best Case for the Vikings’ Embattled Safety?
At this stage, the 5th-year option for Lewis Cine feels about as likely as being unable to find caffeine at Caribou Coffee. The wild thing, though, is that Minnesota will need to make the call on that decision next offseason.
Is Cine even on the roster at that point?
The 24-year-old safety has had an ultra discouraging start to his NFL career. The Georgia alumnus entered the NFL as the first ever draft pick from Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, scooped up at No. 32 in the 2022 NFL Draft. The draft slot arrived after a controversial trade down the board with the Detroit Lions, a fact that shouldn’t be held against Cine. What’s difficult to overlook, though, is that he has made basically no impact since getting drafted.
Lewis Cine and The Path Ahead in 2024
Brian Flores loves his safeties.
Last year, Harrison Smith, Josh Metellus, and Camryn Bynum were all starters, featured prominently from start to finish. The fourth and fifth options — Theo Jackson and Jay Ward — also got some opportunity with the defense. The former picked up 126 snaps on defense while the latter picked up 35. All of that while Smith (1,113), Metellus (1,065), and Bynum (1,122) played a ton.
In contrast, Lewis Cine got onto the field for just 8 snaps. All of the defensive snaps occurred in a Week 17 game when the bench got drained since Minnesota had already lost the game. He was inactive for 10 games, meaning his inactives actually surpassed his snaps.
Not encouraging. Part of the reason for him struggling to get onto the field was his broken leg from his rookie season and the missed development time in Year 1, but that alone can’t explain such a limited role.
One wonders if the only thing keeping Cine on the team is his status as a 1st-Round selection. The on-field play hasn’t been lacking, it’s been entirely absent.
Part of what makes that fact so wild is that Cine should at least be a terror on special teams. With such great length, speed, and a willingness to tackle, Cine should — should — be a menace as a gunner while going after the punt returner. So far, Cine has 118 career snaps on special teams. Can that number grow in 2024? Maybe the adjusted kickoff rule will fit Cine’s game well, providing a chance for him to start making plays in that area of the game.
Heading into the draft, the NFL’s Lance Zierlein compared Cine to Anthony Harris — someone who played some sensational football for the Vikings — while pointing toward a lot of upside in the young safety: “Cine plays with a willing aggressiveness that fit right in with Georgia’s talented stop unit. He plays with an urgent, downhill approach, which leads to memorable collisions but he’s not always under control in getting there. He doesn’t have desired mass and stopping power for his style of play, but the work gets done. Cine lacks range and instincts to play over the top and is better suited to split safety and down safety alignments. He can handle man coverage underneath but doesn’t have the hips to swing and sway with talented receivers down the field. Cine has future starting potential as a zero flinch safety, but has limitations for defenses to consider.”
So far, the “limitations” that were prophesied about in the scouting blurb have been the most prominent part of Cine’s game. What about the “urgent, downhill approach” that should (in theory) fit so well with an aggressive DC in Brian Flores?
Not too long ago, Josh Frey wrote about the safety on PurplePTSD. Apparently, Andrew Krammer of The Star Tribune suggested there could be some difficulty understanding the defense.
If that’s true, then it helps to explain the lack of playing time. There is a ton of physical talent but if the intricacies of the defense aren’t getting picked up, then it would explain the absence.
The good news is that the final chapter hasn’t been written for Cine. Talent is still present. He’s still a hard-hitting player, though he does need to improve his tackling form.
And then there’s the reality of Harrison Smith being a year-to-year player at this stage. Any chance Cine can soak up a ton of wisdom from The Hitman while picking up some snaps from the veteran? At 35, Smith isn’t getting any younger. He’ll be a starter once again but it’s conceivable that Minnesota looks to keep his snaps below the 1K threshold rather than let it soar so high once again. A chance for Cine to step in?
Camryn Bynum is an extension candidate. While it makes sense to bring him back, Bynum’s situation is trickier than with the Metellus extension. Any chance the Vikings are staring down a 2025 offseason where they lose both Smith and Bynum? If so, holding onto Cine makes a bit more sense.
Cutting Cine comes with zero financial benefit in 2024. In fact, it’s the exact opposite scenario. Left untouched, the Cine deal will take $3,134,770 out of the current cap. A post-June 1 cut would result in that number growing to $5,407,155. So, it’s a powerful incentive to keep him around to see if things start clicking.
Keep an eye on Lewis Cine as the offseason unfolds. Nothing is guaranteed for the safety who has battled injury and poor play across a pair of seasons. It’s possible his Vikings career never gets off the ground.
There’s a chance, though, that the circumstances at safety help give way to some playing time as Cine slowly starts to build up positive reps. Begin with one great play and then start building from there. Slowly, the hope is for a safety who can start fulfilling his potential.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.