The Lewis Cine Twist as the Vikings Enter a New Era
If the expected occurs, all-time great Harrison Smith will retire. The Vikings will therefore enter a new era, one that was supposed to be led by Lewis Cine.
And yet the reality is that Mr. Cine has become a draft bust. In fact, things have grown so dire for Cine’s football career that he’s no longer in the NFL. His most recent gig as a football player has been to journey to the UFL, the spring league that’s known for housing talent that’s trying to ascend to the NFL. A humble development, to be sure.
Lewis Cine, Harrison Smith, & The Vikings’ Secondary
Best guess at this stage is that Josh Metellus is the top option at safety.
The versatile defensive back appears ready to ascend to The Hitman’s throne. Is he as good as Smith? No, but few are. Where Metellus can shine is in his ability to mirror Smith insofar as he’s a very smart, versatile defender who can play with toughness near the line of scrimmage while also being tasked with dropping deep to keep a roof on the defense. He’ll be just fine as the No. 1 safety.
Beside Metellus are Theo Jackson and Jay Ward, both of whom are within the prime of their career. The two safeties appear to be trending in opposite directions. Jackson is coming off a 2025 where he failed to live up to expectations; Ward exceeded expectations, suggesting an explosion (within reason) could be coming.
Back in 2022, Lewis Cine was thought of as the one who was going to takeover for Smith. Consider a basic description of the safety to clarify why Minnesota was enthusiastic about adding him four years ago.
In Cine, the Vikings were adding an aggressive, hard-hitting defender with plenty of youth in tow. He possesses good length and speed, allowing him to move all over the field in a hurry. So, too, did he play a critical role within a juggernaut of a Georgia team that won a National Championship. All sounds good, right? Speed, length, youth, physicality, nastiness, and a history as a champion.
And the scouting report that gets passed along on the NFL website: “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.”
A touch ironically, the player comparison placed beside that draft profile is to Anthony Harris. He was an excellent Vikings safety after getting added as an undrafted talent.
The Vikings are now moving into a new era, for better or worse.
As mentioned, the retirement of Harrison Smith — were that to occur — would mean Minnesota has entered a new day. But then there’s the status of J.J. McCarthy, as well as whoever else gets added to compete at quarterback. Whatever happens at QB will obviously be of great significance for where the Vikings are going.
The original plan was to have Lewis Cine as a key fixture of the defense, a central part of a fresh generation of Vikings to usher in several years of success. Safe to say that Mr. Cine isn’t going to be part of that effort.
In fact, there’s ongoing confusion about whether any adds from 2022 will be part of that brand new era for the Vikings. The best of the ten-person group — receiver Jalen Nailor — looks likely to take off in free agency.
Since 2022, the drafting has improved, but it has been a thorn in Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s side, the most glaring shortcoming. Shrinking down the GM’s drafting effort to a single failure would most likely involve discussing Lewis Cine, the 1st-Round safety who is now trying to reignite his career from within a spring football league.
If he never plays another snap in the NFL, Lewis Cine will have made close to $12 million and he’s a Super Bowl champion. He has spent time with the Vikings, Bills, and Eagles but has only played in 10 snaps as a defender and 134 snaps on special teams.
Cine is still only 26.
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