Cine on the move?

[MAD GAINZ]

The longer Cine sits out of practice without any injury news, the more likely he is getting traded (or cut).

The writing seems to be on the wall either way... Harrison, Bynum, Theo Jackson, and now the team signed another defensive back that played S under Flores in Miami...

Ward is getting some time at corner but he's another safety that seems to be ahead of him in the pecking order.

Fingers crossed we can get a conditional 6th or 7th for Cine rather than just flat out cutting him. We need picks next year lol

[Montana Tom]

While I like the idea of Cine getting a clue and making the roster as a contributor, my sense is that he's just not "getting it". From what I've seen and heard, he's fully healed from that brutal bone break...but he hasn't been able to get his ability to mesh with his football instincts and this defense. Of course you've seen me on the sidelines for every OTA and TC session, right? LOL.

My prediction: Cine gets cut, and its not in the last round...they're going to pull the pin sooner than later. I'm actually surprised they didn't pull the pin already (like they did with XFL kicker Romo, so that he can latch on with someone else).

[medaille]

We can criticize the move down and letting Hamilton get by us, but let's not pretend we should've "Cine" this coming. Top 50 recruit, All-SEC for a very good national champion Georgia defense. Ran a 4.37. Cowboys had him ranked 13th overall. Compare that pedigree to 6th rounder Theo Jackson who is likely to take his place on the roster. Sometimes it just doesn't make sense. 

I hope there's something Kwesi and the scouting staff can learn from Cine, but I have no idea what it would be (other than maybe the move down). Roughly half of the players drafted in the 1st round never pay off, and that percentage never really improves over time.

Totally agree.  Players bust all the time.  Sometimes you draft a guy that’s plus athleticism and hope it works out, because you don’t have to be super smart to play football.  I’m not trying to say that we should have seen it coming, I’m just commenting on Havoc’s comment that Cine was a “crazy good” player who’s just struggling with the yips due to his injury.  Dude’s been given 10 NFL defensive snaps over 21 games as a first rounder across two coaches, and two schemes.  Something is massively wrong there, and we’re not hearing any reports about his injury not healing up properly, and we are hearing reports of him mentally not getting it.

[purplefaithful]

You eventually hear the truth when the saga ends

I suspect he struggled with the playbook
I suspect his broken leg hurt him on-going physically
I suspect the stress and humiliation of this all took a toll emotionally and ultimately his attitude.

[pattersaur]

Man, regardless of what anyone might think of KAM, and I've defended him but the jury is still very much out....that 2022 Draft was fucking brutal:

• A part time starting RB, maybe? (Chandler)
  
• A #3 WRer (maybe) after years of injuries (Nailor)
  
• A starting RG....I guess? (Ingram)
  

I like KAM too but yeah that wasn't his finest hour. A weekend to learn from and it seems like he has.

[MAD GAINZ]

Totally agree.  Players bust all the time.  Sometimes you draft a guy that’s plus athleticism and hope it works out, because you don’t have to be super smart to play football.  I’m not trying to say that we should have seen it coming, I’m just commenting on Havoc’s comment that Cine was a “crazy good” player who’s just struggling with the yips due to his injury.  Dude’s been given 10 NFL defensive snaps over 21 games as a first rounder across two coaches, and two schemes.  Something is massively wrong there, and we’re not hearing any reports about his injury not healing up properly, and we are hearing reports of him mentally not getting it.

Exactly. He was a great college player, but he broke his leg playing special teams and was consistently running with the 2nd or 3rd unit in training camp.  He was never a legitimate threat to Bynum or Metellus and the team has added other backup safeties since drafting him.  The mental grind of the NFL must be too much for him.  Which is a shame because he seems like a great dude personality wise and he's got crazy athletic traits.

[NorseFeathers]

Vikings possibly fearing a training camp injury with subsequent settlement. But if so, why don't they just cut him instead of sitting him? Something's off.

Shame, but at least he would be walking away with some coin ... $7.4m earnings so far.

[StickierBuns]

Vikings possibly fearing a training camp injury with subsequent settlement. But if so, why don't they just cut him instead of sitting him? Something's off.

Shame, but at least he would be walking away with some coin ... $7.4m earnings so far.

Apparently, he's had an injury. KOC mentioned this a few days ago.

[Havoc]

medaille
Like what is your evidence for thinking this?  To me, there’s no evidence that he’s a crazy good player at the NFL level.  He had like two defensive snaps through 4 games in 2022 and eight snaps in all of 2023.  They haven’t let him get on the field.  On special teams, I’ve never noticed him playing, even though he’s got snaps.  You’d think that with his speed, he’d be making an impact as a gunner, but he’s not.
 
For me, I’m chalking it up as he was just a super fast guy on a loaded Georgia defense that didn’t have to know too much, and is too dumb to understand NFL defenses.  I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he lost some speed from the injury and now has little redeeming qualities.

It's been a while, so my memory is sparse, but did he have any real "intelligent" type attributes/highlights in college?  I just remember him having a lot of speed and tackling hard.


I think it’s safe to say you watched him very little if at all in college. I’m a Bulldog fan, I watched him play a lot.

It should be obvious I was referring to college as that’s the last place he’s had any real snaps. Yes, he was an excellent college player. He played as a freshman - at Georgia. You have to be pretty special to start as a freshman on a Georgia defense. 

As for mental game, he was excellent. He showed excellent (among the top in all of college football) awareness in the run. If you were to design a nickel safety taking the slot, you’d have him. Instincts and reaction were also top tier. Football intelligence shows out in all of his tape. It was a high rated attribute for him coming out. 

Personally, I preferred Hamilton as a player, but I get why Kwesi liked him and he probably fit what they were looking for a little better. 

In his rookie year, he didn’t seem to have any trouble with the defensive playbook, his struggles looked like NFL offense recognition. This is common for backend defenders seeing highly complex NFL offenses for the first time. 

At the end of the day, we saw very little of Cine. Just four games in (his third game) he suffered a devastating leg injury. He had a compound fracture to go along with ligament damage. It was the kind of injury that was could be career ending not too long ago. 

So, Lewis Cine we hear is struggling. The original report here however is based on his not practicing. The coach said he had a leg injury, so perhaps that’s why? Either way, if you want to comment, that’s cool, but you need to know at least something about the guy if you want to make a rational point.

[Greylock]

Maybe its just the fact that he got some good money as a 1st round draft pick, suffered a terrible injury and decided the NFL dream wasn't what it was supposed to be. Walk away with some cash and save yourself from further injury and getting the shit beat out of you every Sunday as a player.