There’s Some Lewis Cine Chatter
The Minnesota Vikings have kicked off their 2024 season with the beginning of training camp. All eyes are on rookie passer J.J. McCarthy and his development. A good camp could elevate him into a serious debate about whether he should start over veteran Sam Darnold. He has mostly performed well throughout the first week of practice.
There’s Some Lewis Cine Chatter
It’s harder for defender Dallas Turner to shine in the training camp, where the necessary physicality on the defensive line is limited compared to real games. Still, he has flashed his first-round pedigree.
Someone who hasn’t shown any first-round talent is the 32nd overall pick from 2022, Lewis Cine. The defender was the first draftee in the Kwesi Adofo-Mensah era, and it has been a disaster. In his third training camp with the organization, he wanted to prove his general manager right.
Last Wednesday, after the first practice of camp, the third-year player said: “It’s huge, it’s huge for me on a personal note. I think I really gotta show out and really ball out and prove why I should be here and why I deserve to be playing in the NFL. It’s unfortunate that I broke my leg. That’s long behind me. I got the opportunity to learn the defense and not be rushed where something bad could happen again, so now I just have to use this opportunity to show that I haven’t lost a step and I’m that same Lew that you guys drafted.”
He added that he hasn’t lost a step because of his injury. Within a few days, it became pretty clear that he had not managed to reach his goals. He has now missed two practices, as ESPN’s Kevin Seifert mentioned on X: “Lewis Cine has not participated in the past two practices. Has been on the field and watching.”
The strange aspect is that none of his coaches have used their pressers to disclose an injury. Coordinator Brian Flores talked on Monday and head coach Kevin O’Connell on Saturday.
There are only two options. Either he is hurt, which doesn’t help his chances to make the 53-man roster at all because he can’t compete, or he isn’t hurt, but the team is holding him out because they want to move on from him within the next few days and don’t want to risk an injury. That, of course, is highly speculative. A trade wouldn’t give the Vikings much in return; perhaps a late-round pick swap to get his salary off the books is all the team could hope for.
Regardless, Cine not practicing doesn’t increase his likelihood of making the roster.
Cine was a highly-touted prospect coming out of Georgia as a national champion. In his first year, he entered the regular season as the fourth safety on the depth chart behind starters Harrison Smith and Camryn Bynum, as well as versatile defender Josh Metellus. His gruesome leg fracture in Week 4 surely didn’t help his development.
One year later, fully recovered, Cine tumbled down the depth chart and had been usurped by Theo Jackson and rookie Jay Ward once the season began. The Vikings kept him inactive in many games. In his two seasons in the league, the safety appeared in ten games and logged ten snaps on defense.
The latest addition of veteran Bobby McCain just adds to the complexity of the situation. He has plenty of experience in the slot, a position where the Vikings lost Mekhi Blackmon to a torn ACL, but is technically a safety, so there is even more competition for Cine to overcome.
It is a true uphill battle for the 24-year-old to make the 53-man roster, and there’s a chance the team won’t wait much longer to part ways with him.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt
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