Minnesota Vikings safety Lewis Cine on August 21st, 2024, in Eagan, Minnesota, chatting with Jeff Wald of FOX9. The Vikings drafted Cine in the 1st Round of the 2022 NFL Draft with the 32nd pick. Cine faced the roster bubble in the summer of 2024.
Former Minnesota Vikings defender Lewis Cine is no longer a safety.
He’s transitioned to linebacker with his new club, the Buffalo Bills, according to Niagara Gazette.
“Cine felt he needed a fresh start after two frustrating seasons with the Vikings. Little did he know, that would include a position change as the Bills have spent the last few weeks giving Cine a try at linebacker,” Niagara Gazette’s Nick Sabato wrote Tuesday.
Minnesota drafted Cine as a safety from Georgia in the 2022 NFL Draft, the first selection of the Kwesi Adofo-Mensah era. He did not win a starter’s job during his rookie season, and a few games into his NFL career, broke his leg in London. No one knew it at the time, but that spelled the end of his career in purple, never catching on again and ultimately getting released amid 2024 roster cuts six weeks ago.
Cine initially expressed interest in joining the New York Jets roster but reversed course and signed with the Bills. To date, he’s lived on Buffalo’s practice squad, played no regular season snaps, and evidently switched positions altogether.
“Football instincts are football instincts, but I think that it’s more the details than anything of the position and the execution of what a linebacker has to do versus safety. A lot of the key recognition is the same, but different techniques, different things you use down there,” defensive coordinator Bobby Bacich told Sabato about Cine’s career change to linebacker.
The Bills currently employ these linebackers on their active roster:
It is unclear if Cine will graduate to the gameday roster this season or if his new linebacker job will factor into 2025 plans. Stay tuned.
Cine told Sabato about the change: “I’ve shown that I’m willing to learn, and I pick up things kind of fast when it comes to movement and everything, but there’s obviously the learning portion of schemes and all that, Learning the fronts, that doesn’t just happen in a day. That part, I know they’re being patient, but at the same time, I’ve shown I’m a ballplayer, and obviously that’s going to continue.”
The Vikings also traded Cine’s draft mate, cornerback Andrew Booth, to the Dallas Cowboys in August. For his troubles, Booth possesses a 31.1 Pro Football Focus grade through five games.
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.