The Buffalo Bills are signing safety Lewis Cine in a surprising turn of events.
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Cine was set to sign with the New York Jets practice squad after the Minnesota Vikings released him on Tuesday and made him a free agent. However, Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network said that he was flying to Buffalo and is set to be with the Bills’ practice squad.
The Vikings were doing their best to try to trade Cine, but after talks were unsuccessful, they decided to waive him.
The young safety started his career with the Vikings, who selected him with the No. 32 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. In his rookie season, Cine suffered a leg fracture in Week 4 and has only played 10 defensive snaps over his first two seasons and collected on tackle.
He played a team-high 150 snaps this preseason and recorded 13 tackles and one sack.
When Cine returned in the spring of 2023, he was already a step behind the scheme installed by new defensive coordinator Brian Flores. It was a struggle for Cine since returning from injury, and because of that, he only played 10 games over that stretch, finishing his second season as the team’s sixth safety in the depth chart.
Cine has struggled with his lower-body injuries, but now the hope is that his fortunes will turn around with one of the AFC’s powerhouses.
Prior to Cine’s career in the NFL, he was a standout at Georgia, where he played three seasons from 2019-21. He played all 14 games in his freshman season and started in the final two. Going into his sophomore season, he was named the starting safety and finished with solid stats with 49 tackles and 12 passes broken up over 10 starts.
In three seasons as a Bulldog, he tallied 145 total tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions, and 14 passes defended in 39 games.
It’s unclear what type of role Cine would play with the Bills, but as things stand, the Bills are set in their safety positions. At the moment, the Bills have safeties, such as Taylor Rapp, Damar Hamlin, Cam Lewis, and Cole Bishop, to round off the first and second stringers.
Injuries are unpredictable and inevitable in the NL, so if worse comes to worse for the Bills, we could eventually see Cine on the active roster sometime this season. If that’s not the case, Cine could play out his season on the practice squad or impress the coaching staff to move up to the roster on his own.
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