Minnesota Vikings Reporter Predicts Brutal Cut For First-Round Pick

The Minnesota Vikings are entering the 2024 NFL season looking to find a way to get back into playoff contention. A lot of changes have rocked the franchise, including quarterback Kirk Cousins leaving town to join the Atlanta Falcons in free agency.

Kevin O’Connell and company are going to have a lot of new faces, but they also still have some tough roster decisions ahead of them.

One of those decisions will have to do with former first-round pick Lewis Cine. The former first-round safety has not developed well at all for the Vikings. Some even think that the franchise could wash their hands of them before the regular season arrives.

Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press has predicted that the Vikings will end up cutting their former first-round pick ahead of the regular season this year.

“Former Vikings first-round safety bust Lewis Cine, because he’s guaranteed $4 million over the next two seasons, is untradeable. It’s likely he’ll get waived in training camp. If a team were to claim him, it would be responsible for the $4 million. After clearing waivers, some team might be willing to sign him as a free agent.”

A Disappointing Situation For The Minnesota Vikings

Needless to say, this is a disappointing situation for the Vikings to find themselves in. When they drafted Cine with the No. 32 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, they expected Cine to develop into a top-notch starting safety.

After a leg injury sidelined him for his entire rookie season, he recovered to play last year. Unfortunately, he only participated in seven games and his stat line was embarrassing. He ended up with just one total tackle and no other statistics to be noted.

One wrinkle to this situation would be the amount of dead cap that the Vikings would have to deal with by cutting Cine. Cutting him would cost the Vikings $6.791 million, which might be too steep. Minnesota could simply keep him on the roster and not play him rather than take that kind of a loss.

At just 24 years of age, there could still be a hope that the Minnesota Vikings could help him turn his career around. Rather than taking such a big hit by cutting him, they could try one more time to develop him. At the very least, he might be able to make some kind of impact on special teams with his speed and athleticism.

Only time will tell, but the Vikings have some tough decisions left to be made. Missing on a first-round pick that bad is always a massive blow. Perhaps Cine will be given one more chance to prove that he can make some kind of impact for Minnesota.