Tag: Andrew Booth Jr

Lewis Cine labeled as Vikings’ make-it-or-break it player in 2024

The former first-round pick has a lot of work to do in order to not only make the Vikings’ 53-man roster, but to earn a role in 2024.

Justin Melo with The Draft Network called safety Lewis Cine the Vikings make it or make-it-or-break-it player in 2024. The former 32nd-overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft has had a rough time in the NFL. Between injuries, adjustment to the league, and coaching changes, Cine has produced much of anything for the Vikings’ defense.

Cine suffered a major leg injury in Week 4 of his rookie season and was forced to miss the rest of the year. Ed Donatell, his first defensive coordinator, was fired and entered Brian Flores. While trying to recover from the leg injury, Cine had to learn a new defensive scheme and had difficulty transitioning when healthy.

During the 2023 season, Cine was a healthy scratch for most of the season and had just one tackle in ’23—the only one of his two-year career.

Not only has Cine been seen as a disappointment in the league, but Melo went on to talk about the rest of the 2022 NFL Draft class, and he didn’t hold back.

In truth, the entire 2022 Vikings draft class has been disastrous. Second-round cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. has battled injury and been passed over in favor of lower-drafted players like Akayleb Evans and Mekhi Blackmon when healthy. Fellow second-rounder Ed Ingram has played consistent snaps but has been below-average to league-average at best. Linebacker Brian Asamoah II was selected in the third round. He’s been outshined by an undrafted player in Ivan Pace Jr. Asamoah totaled a whopping 36 defensive snaps in 2023.

Most of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s other 2022 draft picks are no longer on the team with fifth-round running back Ty Chandler qualifying as the other consistent contributor. Adofo-Mensah didn’t draft a single high-end starter, let alone a blue-chipper despite making four top-66 picks.

Reports from OTAs haven’t favored Andrew Booth Jr., who may not make the Vikings’ 53-man roster in 2024. While there have been a few promising signs from Cine, neither player has lived up to the big hype they had coming out of college.

Darren Wolfson feels ‘better’ about Lewis Cine making the Vikings’ roster

According to a report, the former first-round safety might be playing his way into making the Vikings’ roster after speculation he wouldn’t.

Many recent reports have stated that it wasn’t looking good for either Andrew Booth Jr. or Lewis Cine to make the Vikings’ 53-man roster in 2024.

But things could change for one of the former top draft picks. According to Darren Wolfson with SKOR North, he’s beginning to feel better about safety Lewis Cine, but not so much regarding Booth Jr.

“I feel a little better now thinking that [Lewis] Cine is on the roster in September, not [Andrew] Booth. Subject to change. Circle back to me in mid-August. But right now, I feel a little bit better about Cine making the roster.”

Cine, a former first-round pick out of Georgia, has just one career tackle in the NFL. He was a healthy scratch for most of last season for the Vikings. Even if Cine would make the 53-man roster, he would be behind Harrison Smith, Cam Bynum, and Josh Metellus. It would seem, barring injury, that Cine would have to make an impact on special teams.

‘Light bulb’ still hasn’t turned on for two former top Vikings selections

The chances are looking more and more slim that neither of the former top picks will make the Vikings’ roster.

So far in their young careers, former first-round draft pick Lewis Cine and second-rounder Andrew Booth Jr. have left plenty to be desired. Cine, who suffered a major injury during his rookie season, has played in just 10 career games with one total tackle. Booth, who did play quite a bit last season, hasn’t stacked up real well on the field even with playing time.

The Star Tribune’s Andrew Kramer spoke on his latest podcast about a feeling that won’t make Vikings fans feel much better. He’s been told by people behind the scenes that the “light bulb” still hasn’t turned on for either of the two players.

“The phrase that I’ve heard behind the scenes is the light bulb not going on with [Cine and Booth] specifically,” said Kramer on “Access Vikings.” “So how do you interpret that when you’re not sitting in the room next to them as they’re studying these things? … So yeah, the light bulb is just not going on, and it didn’t go on last year.”

There have been plenty of opinions regarding the unlikely chances that at least Cine, if not Booth as well, won’t be on the 2024 53-man roster.

Report: Two former top picks could be waived by the Vikings

So far it’s been disappointing for the top two picks of the 2022 NFL Draft.

Most Minnesota Vikings fans want to forget about the 2022 NFL Draft. While fourth-round pick Akayleb Evans and fifth-round selection Ty Chandler have shown some promise — the first two picks have been highly disappointing.

Pioneer Press writer Charley Walters recently wrote a column, and he expects the Vikings to waive first-round pick Lewis Cine and second-round pick Andrew Booth Jr.

“Former Vikings 1st-round safety bust Lewis Cine, because he’s guaranteed $4 million over the next two seasons, is untradeable. It’s likely he’ll get waived in training camp. If a team were to claim him, it would be responsible for the $4 million. After clearing waivers, some team might be willing to sign him as a FA. A 2nd-round pick, CB Andrew Booth, who is guaranteed $900,000 next season, seems close to being done as a Viking.”

Cine was the 32nd overall pick by the Vikings out of Georgia. He suffered a leg fracture in Week 2 of his rookie year and has hardly been on the field since. Cine was a healthy scratch from the lineup most of last season. He has one career tackle for the Vikings during his two NFL seasons.

Booth Jr., on the other hand, has shown a little promise, but for a second-round pick, he’s been mostly disappointing. Although he appeared in all 17 games for the Vikings last season, Booth Jr. registered just eight tackles and one pass deflection. According to PFF, he was 11th on Minnesota last year with a 69.1 coverage grade.

Time could be ticking for the top two Vikings’ picks of the 2022 NFL Draft.

Zulgad: Time is running out for Vikings’ 2022 draft class to prove it wasn’t a bust

Time is running out for Vikings’ 2022 draft class as it looks to find it’s identity within the current state of the franchise.

There is no more misguided project involving the NFL draft — and that is saying something — than the immediate attempt to assign overall grades to each team’s selections. A process that takes several years to play itself out is assigned a collective letter mark hours after all the names have been called.

The latest example of the futility accompanying this assignment comes from the Minnesota Vikings’ 2022 draft. Chad Reuter of NFL.com and Vinnie Iyer of The Sporting News gave the Vikings A-minus grades. ESPN’s Mel Kiper, the Washington Post’s Mark Maske, and Eric Edholm of Yahoo Sports handed out B-minuses. Rob Rang of Fox Sports wasn’t so kind, giving the Vikings a C-plus grade, and Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated handed out a D-minus.

Orr’s negativity has proven to be well-founded and might not be strong enough. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s first draft as the Vikings’ general manager could be headed for an F, depending on how the remaining class members do this season. This concerns those who know how important this month’s draft will be in shaping the future of the Vikings’ roster.

Adofo-Mensah’s defenders will point out that he had only been on the job for a few months before that draft and that the current front office structure wasn’t as set then. That doesn’t excuse the fact that Adofo-Mensah not only traded back with Detroit to go from 12 to 32 in the first round but then missed (at least for now) on three of his first four picks.

Here’s a look at the Vikings’ 10-player draft class from 2022:

Round 1 (32): Lewis Cine, S
Round 2 (42): Andrew Booth Jr., CB
Round 2 (59): Ed Ingram, G
Round 3 (66): Brian Asamoah, LB
Round 4 (118): Akayleb Evans, CB
Round 5 (165): Esezi Otomewo, DT
Round 5 (169): Ty Chandler, RB
Round 6 (184): Vederian Lowe, OL
Round 6 (191): Jalen Nailor, WR
Round 7 (227): Nick Muse, TE

Cine, taken with the last pick of the opening round, has only played in two games and been in for 10 defensive snaps in his first two seasons. Cine suffered a compound fracture in his left leg early in his rookie season but declared himself ready to go during offseason workouts last spring.

But he only played in seven regular-season games, despite the fact that defensive coordinator Brian Flores often employed three safeties simultaneously, including 2020 sixth-round pick Josh Metellus.

It wasn’t much better with Booth and Asamoah, who were expected to step into prominent roles last season. Booth played in all 17 games and got a chance on defense. Still, it appears the Vikings will head into offseason workouts with 2023 third-round selection Mekhi Blackmon and free agent addition Shaq Griffin as the outside corners and Byron Murphy Jr. inside in the nickel.

Asamoah only played 36 snaps on defense last season, and while he has appeared in 29 games over two years, he has yet to get a start. The starting inside linebackers are Ivan Pace Jr., an undrafted free agent who excelled as a rookie last season, and free agent signee Blake Cashman.

Ingram struggled at right guard in his first year but started all 18 games, including the playoff loss to the Giants, and showed improvement in starting 15 games in 2023. The fact that Ingram is the most successful player from this group isn’t a positive.

Evans has shown promise in his first two seasons but dealt with concussion issues as a rookie and was benched in a Dec. 24 game against Detroit last year at U.S. Bank Stadium. He returned to start in the final two games of the season, but the decision to sign Griffin likely means Evans will find himself on the sideline when the Vikings play their opener.

Of the Vikings’ final five picks, Otomewo and Lowe are no longer with the team, Nailor has dealt with injuries and spent three stints on injured reserve last season, and Muse has played two snaps on offense in 12 games.

Chandler likely will serve as the backup to free agent running back Aaron Jones, who joined the Vikings after being released by the Packers. The Vikings were so hesitant to turn to Chandler as their starter last season that they spent much of the year with the struggling Alexander Mattison as their top back and didn’t turn over that job to Chandler until the final four games. Mattison was released this offseason.

If you have wondered why the Vikings don’t have more depth, this is why. Adofo-Mensah and Co., turned out two players the coaching staff currently trusts (Ingram and Chandler) and six that remain on the roster but with uncertain roles.

The offseason and training camp could be the last chance for guys like Cine, Booth, and Asamoah to prove that the generous grades so many gave the Vikings’ draft class in 2022 were warranted. The problem is the clock is ticking, and some might believe it’s already run out.

NFL draft: The Minnesota Vikings have selected at 42 three times

In the Minnesota Vikings 63 year history as a franchise, they have only selected at pick 42 three times, including CB Andrew Booth Jr.

The NFL draft is known as a crap shoot. You can find a hall of fame player just about anywhere but being able to identify them is the biggest challenge. Some teams can find great talent anywhere while others struggle to find good players in round one where it’s the easiest to identify those talents.

The Minnesota Vikings are no strangers to inconsistencies in the NFL draft and you can look at their history at pick 42 for just that. In their history, they have selected three times at the 42nd overall pick with the first happening in 1966 and the last in 2022.

Who have the Vikings selected at 42nd overall? Lets take a look.

Revisiting preseason bold Vikings predictions: What did we get right

Tyler Forness reflects on his 2023 bold predictions and what he got right and wrong with analysis on each

The 2023 season for the Minnesota Vikings is over. The team finished 7-10 this season and had a real chance to make the playoffs when they were at 7-6 but lost their final four games.

Before the season, predictions for the team were all over the place. Some thought they would get the NFC North title for the second consecutive season while others thought they would take a sharp nosedive and finish as low as fourth in the division.

Before the season began, I made six different bold predictions that felt very plausible at the time. Let’s take a look at those and what happened with each.

Vikings snap count analysis: Booth doesn’t play, Powell is WR3

The snap counts from Sunday tell us a lot about who the Vikings have faith in, including Brandon Powell

The Minnesota Vikings lost a tough game to the Denver Broncos on Sunday night by a score of 21-20.

The game was that of an up-and-down nature with Brian Flores’ defense playing well but the constant tough situations they were put in ended up costing them in a major way down the stretch.

What was really interesting about the game itself was how the Vikings used their personnel. The snap counts were very interesting from Sunday’s game. Here is the breakdown.

Snap count analysis from Vikings 24-10 win vs. Packers

The snap counts from Sunday’s game show how much Brian Flores trusts his starters

The Minnesota Vikings found a way to beat the Green Bay Packers on the road by a score of 24-10. It was a hard-fought victory that also brought some tragedy with the Vikings losing quarterback Kirk Cousins for the season with a torn Achilles tendon.

The game brought a lot of different elements. The Vikings defense was really impressive, forcing a three-and-out on the first four Packers possessions and stopped the Packers multiple times in Vikings territory from getting into the end zone. They had the Packers’ number throughout the game.

Offensively, they were firing on all cylinders before the Cousins injury, jumping out to a 24-3 lead. The snap counts tell the story of Sunday’s game and we break it down here.

2024 NFL draft QB discussion: Purple Daily on Draft

The latest episode of Purple Daily on Draft discusses the quarterback class of 2024 and why it’s important to be patient with draft picks

After week eight of college football, the quarterback class in the 2024 draft is coming into even more focus. On the latest episode of Purple Daily on Draft, that is the main topic of discussion.

There is a lot to discuss with these quarterbacks, including:

  • Who is QB3 after Caleb Williams and Drake Maye?
  • What issues does Williams have that separate him from the likes of Trevor Lawrence and Andrew Luck?
  • What would Kevin O’Connell prioritize in a quarterback?

To finish off the show, what can we take from Andrew Booth Jr. getting snaps? Was it too early to call him a bust?

All of that and more on the latest episode of Purple Daily on Draft, dropping every Monday afternoon on the Purple Daily YouTube channel.