ESPN Names the Vikings “Top Mistake”
Remember Lewis Cine and Andrew Booth?
ESPN Names the Vikings “Top Mistake”
Amid the last five years of Minnesota Vikings football, those two are the franchise’s top mistake(s), according to ESPN.
Cine doesn’t play for the Vikings anymore; he’s a practice squad commodity for the Buffalo Bills that has switched positions from safety to linebacker. Booth is on the Dallas Cowboys’ practice squad. And this week, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell identified each NFL team’s largest blunder since 2020, and for Minnesota, that was the selection of Cine and Booth in the 2022 NFL Draft.
“[GM Kwesi] Adofo-Mensah made a pair of trades within the NFC North, moving down in deals that landed the Lions’ Jameson Williams and the Packers’ Christian Watson. I won’t take issue with those trades, given what advanced draft charts suggest about the moves — and it shouldn’t matter which prospect those teams select in justifying the deal for Adofo-Mensah — but he has to nail some of his picks if he’s going to make any draft philosophy work,” Barnwell explained. He claimed the Vikings’ Day 1 and 2 picks from the 2022 NFL Draft, on the whole, were the top mistake(s).
“The Vikings went 0-for-4. Their first pick, safety Lewis Cine, played just two defensive snaps in four games before suffering a career-altering leg injury on special teams. He should be applauded for making it back to the league, but he played just eight more defensive snaps for the Vikings before joining the Bills, where he made his debut on special teams last week.”
Barnwell’s musings check out, as some Vikings fans still cannot get over the Cine + Booth draft blunders. Even with the club showcasing a 12-2 record, Cine and Booth grievances can be read in fringe spots of Vikings-themed social media.
“Maybe that pick could be chalked up to bad luck, but the next one was second-round corner Andrew Booth Jr., who spent most of the year on the bench before tearing his meniscus. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores didn’t seem to value Booth, who was traded to the Cowboys after his second season,” Barnwell continued.
On the other hand, Adofo-Mensah has reconciled the failed Cine + Booth draft picks with wise free-agent transactions since. In March, the executive signed Sam Darnold, Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Aaron Jones, among others, moves that universally propelled the 2024 team to a fancy record.
Barnwell concluded, “Thankfully, Adofo-Mensah has made enough smart decisions elsewhere to overcome a rough start during his time in charge in Minnesota.”
There’s no other way around it: Adofo-Mensah’s first two picks — some say four — proved disastrous.
Luckily, his team didn’t fall into the toilet accordingly.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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