After going without a single preseason win in either of Kevin O'Connell's first two years as the team's head coach, the Minnesota Vikings are now 2-0 in the 2024 preseason following a 27-12 win in their exhibition matchup against the Cleveland Browns on Saturday.
A number of Vikings players from both sides of the ball made a bunch of plays to propel the team to a victory in Cleveland, but it was third-year safety Lewis Cine who really stood out the most in the contest.
Cine was given a bunch of playing time on Saturday, and he certainly made the most of his snaps on the field. Minnesota's 2022 first-round pick finished with 11 tackles (one for a loss), two quarterback hits, one sack, one interception, and one pass breakup.
Did Lewis Cine just cement his spot on the 2024 Minnesota Vikings?
Heading into this year's training camp, there was plenty of uncertainty surrounding Cine's future with the Vikings. Some believed he could even end up getting cut by Minnesota before the start of the regular season if he didn't perform well enough this summer.
But, on Saturday, it seems safe to say that Cine's chances of making the Vikings' final 2024 roster are pretty high. Minnesota selected him in the opening round of the 2022 NFL Draft for a reason, and his performance against the Browns was one of the first times where he was able to prove why (especially with the brutal hit he delivered in the third quarter).
Now, is the game Cine had on Saturday going to catapult him into the Vikings' starting defense for the upcoming regular season. No, but with how banged up Minnesota's secondary has become during the last few weeks, keeping the young safety around for the 2024 campaign seems like a decision the team will probably make.
It's been a tough road for Cine since entering the NFL in 2022. His rookie season was cut short by a gruesome leg injury, and after, some didn't know if he would ever be the same player that he was in his college career at the University of Georgia.
But not everyone is able to adjust to the level of play in the NFL at the same speed. Some take longer than others, and for Cine, it seems like he's finally beginning to show some of the potential that the Vikings believed he had when they used their 2022 first-round pick on him.