Former Vikings safety Lewis Cine pivots from Jets, will sign to Bills practice squad

[NewEra]

Supremely athletic.  Perfect guy to roll the dice on with zero risk.  He made a smart choice and landed in the perfect spot.  If he’s ever going to excel, it’s right here.  Just needs to stay healthy 
 

 

[Logic]

I will admit to always being tantalized by highly talented, high round draft picks who need a second chance and a change of scenery.

That said...if Cine is EVER going to excel in the NFL, one would think that playing for Sean McDermott and his former coach Jameel Addae would be the place.

McDermott has been a bit of a safety whisperer in my opinion, turning late rounders and aferthoughts like Kurt Coleman, Jordan Poyer, and Micah Hyde into productive starters.

Give McDermott (and Cine's college coach) a chance to work with a guy with Cine's demeanor, athletic ability, and pedigree, and let's see what happens.

Is it unrealistic of me (after up to a season on the PS learning the playbook) to envision a Bishop-Cine duo leading the Bills defense for the next five+ years? Maybe, but I'm gonna envision it anyway.

Cine is a tenacious and hard hitting guy. He's got a little but of Jordan Poyer to him. Love this move.

[4merper4mer]

41 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

He chose to sign with Buffalo because Aaron Rodgers walked by in his visit and he hadn't showered in a month.  

Plausible.

[Not at the table Karlos]

Why’d the Vikings give up on him so soon? 24 years old with his athleticism seems like someone you’d try to keep and coach up.

[Logic]

4 minutes ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

Why’d the Vikings give up on him so soon? 24 years old with his athleticism seems like someone you’d try to keep and coach up.

Posted this in another thread just now, but I'll paste it here:

From what I could gather online just now, Cine's time in Minnesota went roughly like this:

Unable to claim a starting spot as a rookie, he was playing special teams in London when he suffered a compound fracture in his leg that ended his year.

Last year, after recovering from the leg fracture, he oscillated between missing games due to a lingering hamstring injury and just being a straight up healthy scratch.

It sounds as though he never quite gelled with Brian Flores, and never quite stepped up and claimed a starting defensive spot the way the Vikings clearly hoped he would when they drafted him.

Reading between the lines with Vikings fans and reporters a bit, it sounds as though maybe Cine's work ethic and will to be great were somewhat in question. Knowing there have been recent publicly discussed issues with Brian Flores and his way of, um...motivating and connecting with players, I'm at least slightly wondering if there's more to it than simply "Cine didn't want it badly enough".

In any case...Everything about Cine's history in the NFL so far screams "in need of a fresh start and a change of scenery". I'm not absolving Cine or saying that the Vikings screwed up and the Bills got a great one, I'm just saying that sometimes a guy needs a fresh start. Hopefully McDermott, Babich, and Addae can get the most out of him, and his release after just two years will be a wakeup call if, in fact, he needs one.

Edited August 29 by Logic

[Mat68]

5 minutes ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

Why’d the Vikings give up on him so soon? 24 years old with his athleticism seems like someone you’d try to keep and coach up.

Possible change in D defense with Flores and Petine coming in this year.  Either way he adds juice to the room. 

[JerseyBills]

1 hour ago, Roundybout said:

 

wow, 1st rder , going into year 3, should be fully healthy after injury rookie year, plus McD has been phenomenal developing DBs. 

Could be a massive W for Buf

[Process]

Nothing not to love about this move

[notpolian]

Perfect practice squad signing.  

[Cash]

52 minutes ago, Logic said:

Is it unrealistic of me (after up to a season on the PS learning the playbook) to envision a Bishop-Cine duo leading the Bills defense for the next five+ years? Maybe, but I'm gonna envision it anyway.

 

Same!  As others on this thread have pointed out, McD and staff have an excellent track record of coaching up DBs.  It wouldn't be crazy if a high pick flamed out somewhere else and had a renaissance with us.  If the athletic profile is still there, Cine could potentially work out in a big way.

 

But I say IF the athletic profile is still there, because frankly a broken leg is a big deal, especially since it was a compound fracture.  Not everyone recovers and keeps the same speed, burst, ability to change direction, etc.  Cine looked pretty spry in that preseason highlight posted upthread, so that's a good sign, but I'm certainly not counting this as a hatched chicken.

[dma0034]

McDermott has been able to develop CBs and LBs in his time here. Getting a player with an elite physical skill set that you can develop sounds like a good idea to me. Safety is the one spot on defense I think the Bills are weaker at then last year (on defense)

[Logic]

13 minutes ago, Cash said:

 

 

But I say IF the athletic profile is still there, because frankly a broken leg is a big deal, especially since it was a compound fracture.  Not everyone recovers and keeps the same speed, burst, ability to change direction, etc. 

Some potential good news there. This article is from May 2023. OTAs the year after the fracture:

https://www.si.com/nfl/vikings/news/8-months-after-injury-lewis-cine-looking-more-explosive-than-last-year

 

It's been less than eight months since Vikings safety Lewis Cine suffered a compound fracture of his left leg while playing on special teams in last season's London game. And yet, if you watched him fly around the field at OTAs this week, you'd have no idea he was coming off a major injury.

Vikings special teams coordinator Matt Daniels knows what Cine has been through because he suffered a serious leg injury of his own during his playing career. That's what makes it so shocking to him to see how quickly and how well Cine has recovered. Daniels even went so far as to suggest that Cine looks more explosive than he did at this time a year ago.
 

"It's mind-blowing, quite frankly, because I suffered a similar injury, broken (tibula and fibula) and dislocated ankle, and he comes back off a compound fracture like that and he's looking more explosive than he did last year," Daniels said. "A lot of times when you do have these types of injuries, it's more of a mental block than it is a physical block. I think he has surpassed that mental block because of how he trained and rehabbed his way back to it. He has that supreme confidence back in him that he's out there flying around."

 

 

 

[julian]

Maybe it’s just me, it’s probably just me but I swear I see the Vikings miss on, or give up on more high draft picks than all other teams and they seem to be DBs a lot of the time.

Edited August 29 by julian

[RiotAct]

2 hours ago, stlbills13 said:

Went to a Georgia game once and a drunken me heckled him while he was going through warmups. Don't remember exactly what I said but it was something about how he wasn't good enough to play in the SEC. He ended up coming over to talk to me and told me when he's in the NFL he'll get me tickets and I can say all that to him again. Need my tickets Lewis 

wait are you serious?  I can’t tell. Incredible story if so 😂

[pennstate10]

1 hour ago, NewEra said:

Supremely athletic.  Perfect guy to roll the dice on with zero risk.  He made a smart choice and landed in the perfect spot.  If he’s ever going to excel, it’s right here.  Just needs to stay healthy 
 

 

Thanks for posting the RAS scores. Vine was heavily recruited by PSU out of high school and I’ve followed his career; was hoping Bills would take him in 21. 
 

I don’t know what happened in MN but he clearly fell out of favor. 
 

Hope that he can learn Bills scheme quickly. 

[NORWOODS FOOT]

Cool. I liked him coming out. And screw the Jets.

[mollymalonesmafia]

2 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

So he’s good then?

Yes. So good hes on the practice squad. Huge signing

[C.Biscuit97]

3 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

I saw something after he was released talking about how badly we overrated the players on that Georgia D :

 

- Lewis Cine (1st round)

- Travon Walker (1st overall)

- Nakobe Dean (3rd round)

- Quay Walker (1st round)

- Channing Tindall (3rd round)

- Kelee Ringo (early 4th)

 

With that being said, perfect guy to add to the PS.

I mean if you’re playing with all 5 stars, how hard can your job be? It’s why Bama and USC qbs have struggled in the nfl (fyi Caleb had a pretty blah group this year at USC and is set up well for the Bears so I’m pretty sure he will be the exception). 
 

but Sean will get the best of whatever is in him. If I was a FA d back, I would try my hardest for a one year deal with the Bills. 

[LABILLBACKER]

3 hours ago, gonzo1105 said:

I mean he hasn’t done much clearly but if there are two people to get a DB up to their potential, McDermott and Babich are those guys. 
 

Im assuming this means that Kareem Jackson is being let go to make room for him. It’s still a good flyer esp with Hamlin and Edwards having 1 year left on their deal 

I think the only reason he chose us is Addae.  He'll be a nice SS insurance policy on the PS.

[GASabresIUFan]

Go Dawgs!  Go Bills!