Ex-Vikings lineman calls out rookie Lewis Cine for ambiguous tweet
When Vikings safety Harrison Smith missed Sunday’s 28-24 win over the Detroit Lions with a concussion, it was expected that rookie first-round pick Lewis Cine would play a featured role in Minnesota’s defensive gameplan.
However, the Georgia alum was limited to just 15 special teams snaps while third-year defensive back Josh Metellus saw all 78 defensive snaps at strong safety opposite Camryn Bynum, prompting Cine to post a vexing tweet following the game.
Count former Vikings offensive lineman-turned-NFL-agent Jeremiah Sirles among those who took issue with the perceived message that Cine sent, stating the cryptic nature of his tweet came across as a complaint against the Minnesota coaching staff.
“As a young player, you don’t want to put stuff out there that’s going to raise more questions than answers,” Sirles said on a recent episode of the Purple Insider podcast. “I give rookies a lot of grace because it’s hard. But you tweet something like that, you start chipping away at that grace that people will give you because now it looks like, well, are you just saying the coaches are screwing you? Where’s the disconnect? You just don’t do things like that.”
While battling a preseason knee injury that lingered into the regular season and caused him to miss Minnesota’s season opening 23-7 win over the Green Bay Packers, Cine has been limited to just one defensive snap through two games.
“You can either embody that ‘me-against-the-coach, me-against-the-world’ mentality, or take a big step back and self-reflect,” Sirles continued. “You go and grab Harrison. You grab Patrick Peterson and you ask, ‘Why am I not playing? Help me.’”
The 32nd overall pick in April’s draft, Cine struggled to beat out Bynum during training camp for Minnesota’s second starting safety spot. Clearly still adjusting to the learning curve of the NFL, there should be plenty more opportunities for the 22-year-old rookie to work his way up the depth chart.
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