Despite the fact that he was waived by the Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday, less than three years after they selected him in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, it didn't take long for Lewis Cine to find a new NFL team as the young safety will reportedly sign with the New York Jets, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler on Wednesday.
Cine had a grand total of one tackle in his two seasons with the Vikings. However, a number of Jets fans have already been convincing themselves that their team just landed some sort of diamond in the rough. After the news of New York reportedly signing Cine was revealed on Wednesday, multiple Jets fans shared posts online similar to the one below.
New York Jets fans confident Robert Saleh can fix former Minnesota Vikings safety Lewis Cine
Okay, the above post from X might be a bit of an extreme example of how Jets fans feel about the team reportedly signing Cine. But there are still plenty of New York fans, including Take Flight Media's Harrison Glaser, who believe the team's coaching staff has what it takes to help the former Minnesota safety turn his career around.
It's great to be optimistic about a new player, especially one who was drafted in the first round less than three years ago. Vikings fans are optimistic about these things too, but it's probably not going to take very long for Jets fans to realize why Cine was even available for their team to sign on Wednesday.
Do New York fans think Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is a lousy coach who couldn't figure out how to utilize Cine?
Just during his tenure with Minnesota, Flores has helped a number of players who went undrafted or were late-round picks, like Ivan Pace, Cam Bynum, and Josh Metellus, reach their full potential.
The Vikings just kept a pair of undrafted rookies (Dwight McGlothern and Taki Taimani) and their 2024 seventh-round pick (Levi Drake Rodriguez) on the team's final 53-man roster because they were able to excel under Flores this summer.
So, if Cine couldn't reach his potential with Flores leading the way, then why should anyone believe his time with New York head coach Robert Saleh will go differently?
Jets fans should really just ask themselves why the team didn't claim Cine on waivers and pick up the two years remaining on his rookie contract. Probably because they know there's a good chance that he's not going pan out, right?
