It was only an exhibition matchup, but Minnesota Vikings safety Lewis Cine had the best game of his NFL career during the team's preseason win over the Cleveland Browns on Saturday.
Cine was on the field for the majority of the contest, and he finished with 11 tackles (one for a loss), two QB hits, one sack, one interception, and one pass breakup. His production on Saturday is what Vikings fans have been hoping to see from him ever since the team selected him with their first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Was Cine's performance against the Browns a sign of him finally turning a corner, or was it part of a plan by Minnesota to boost his trade value before the start of the 2024 regular season?
Did the Minnesota Vikings showcase Lewis Cine to improve his trade value?
While many would assume Cine was given a bunch of playing time by the Vikings on Saturday in order to just get some much-needed reps. But it's possible that Minnesota had other motivations to keep the young safety on the field against Cleveland.
Following the Vikings' win on Saturday, SKOR North's Judd Zulgad shared the following theory on his Substack about what the team might have been attempting to do by giving Cine a significant number of snaps.
"If the Vikings again keep six [safeties for the regular season], then Cine has a chance to stick and also play on special teams. But the way Cine was used on Saturday felt much more like the Vikings were showcasing him for other teams.
...Cine isn’t likely to get you much [in a trade] - trading him would be preferable to releasing him from a financial standpoint - but a few weeks ago the suggestion that he could bring back a late-round pick was scoffed at. So could he now get you a conditional sixth- or seventh-round selection based on playing time elsewhere?"
It's definitely an interesting thought, and Zulgad has been covering the Vikings and other pro sports teams for multiple decades, so he's seen just about everything.
But is Minnesota really that desperate for draft picks that they showcased Cine on Saturday with the hopes of potentially trading him for a late-round 2025 draft selection? Anything is certainly possible, but the return the Vikings could possibly receive doesn't really seem worth the extra effort.
And while Cine did play well on Saturday, he was also facing a bunch of third and fourth-stringers on the Browns' roster. So his performance likely didn't have any impact on his trade value, if he even had any to begin with.
If Cine was able to put up similar numbers against Cleveland's first-team offense, then that is something that would probably improve his trade value. But that's not what took place on Saturday.
Instead of attempting to trade Cine for a late-round draft pick, Minnesota's next step should be to give the young safety some reps with the first-team defense in practice. This is the time to do it because once the regular season begins, those practice reps are going to belong to Harrison Smith, Cam Bynum, and Josh Metellus.
So, during the next few weeks, the Vikings should let Cine prove if Saturday's performance was a fluke or not. He showed glimpses of his potential in Cleveland. Minnesota should find out if those glimpses are the start of something they can utilize in the near future.
