Polarizing Vikings defender injured in Monday's practice

Midway through the team's practice on Monday, Minnesota Vikings safety Lewis Cine reportedly limped off of the field and was examined by trainers, according to multiple reports.

The Athletic's Alec Lewis speculated that it looked like Cine sustained an injury near his groin area and the Star Tribune's Andrew Krammer reported that the second-year safety appeared to be favoring his right hip and leg area. So it sounds like Cine might have sustained some sort of soft-tissue injury that, hopefully, doesn't end up keeping him out of action for an extended period of time.

The Minnesota safety is coming off a performance in the team's second preseason game of 2023 against the Tennessee Titans that was full of ups and downs.

During the contest, Cine made some impressive plays that helped remind people why he was the Vikings' first-round draft pick in 2022. But then he also made some mistakes against the Titans that made it easier to understand why he's not expected to begin the upcoming regular season as one of Minnesota's starting safeties.

Some have questioned why Cine was even on the field during the third quarter of the Vikings' preseason loss to Tennessee this past Saturday. But due to his severe leg injury last season, Minnesota is likely just trying to get the young safety as many in-game reps as possible this summer in case they need him to fill in as a starter in the regular season.

Hopefully, the injury Cine sustained on Monday doesn't turn out to be anything major. However, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Vikings hold him out of practice this week and out of Saturday's preseason finale against the Arizona Cardinals as well.

As badly as Minnesota would like Cine to get some more in-game reps, the team would likely rather have him as healthy as possible for their first regular-season game of 2023, a matchup where the result will actually count.