The Minnesota Vikings 2022 NFL draft class is not in a great spot. Their top three defenders from that draft Lewis Cine, Andrew Booth Jr. and Brian Asamoah II all played zero snaps on Sunday.
Not overall snaps, but snaps on defense, the positions they were drafted to play. That’s not great!
It’s been a complicated road for all three. Cine broke his leg in week four of his rookie year and it set him back. He is still learning how to control his aggressive nature and the Vikings just don’t trust him on the field with how deep their safety room is.
Booth is in a similar boat. Injuries hindered his rookie season to less than 200 snaps during his rookie campaign. Like Cine, Booth’s aggressiveness gets him into trouble and he hasn’t shown that he can handle playing on the outside regularly.
Asamoah is a different case. He played well toward the end of last season but didn’t get off on the right foot this season. His absence is best explained by the emergence of Ivan Pace Jr. but that only explains so much.
Why aren’t these guys getting any playing time? Brian Flores is a very aggressive defensive coordinator and the one trait that describes all three is aggressiveness. Is it that these three just aren’t disciplined enough to be counted on? That could, along with some lack of development, explain why the top of the Vikings 2022 draft class isn’t playing much after three games.
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