During the NFL Draft season, there are a lot of rumors and news to sift through. Figuring out what is accurate and what is posturing is not easy, as teams are angling to put themselves in the best positions whether it be to select a prospect or make a trade. Sometimes, even those prospects are being led one way just to have things change at the last minute. That seems to be the case with new Minnesota Vikings’ safety Lewis Cine. Cine ended up being the final pick of the first round, going No. 32 overall, but he was under the impression that he would go earlier than that to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
While making an appearance on “The Richard Sherman Podcast”, Cine revealed that he had received a promise from a team that if he were on the board, they would pick him. He was on the board when the team came on the clock, but they opted to trade back and not select him, something that certainly miffed the former Bulldog.
“I had a team at 27. They know who they are. I ain’t gonna’ say no names. It was at 27,” Cine said, during an appearance on “The Richard Sherman Podcast.”
“The whole process — if you’re there, we’re gonna pick you. They moved down to the first pick of the second round. I was like, damn, they did me just so dirty.”
By process of elimination, it isn’t difficult to figure out who Cine is talking about. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came into the draft with the 27th overall pick but traded it to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars would end up selecting Utah linebacker Devin Lloyd, leaving Cine on the board.
Tampa Bay may have been hoping to nab Cine with the first pick of the second round, which would have certainly been a blow for him. Late first-round picks are now having contracts fully guaranteed and they come with a fifth-year option. Instead, the Vikings swooped in and drafted him.
As the 32nd pick, Cine agreed to a four-year deal worth $11,494,155. Had he been the first pick of the second round, it would have been a four-year deal worth $9.981 million, but it wouldn’t have been fully guaranteed and there is no fifth-year option attached to it.
If Lewis Cine was picked 27th, as he was under the impression that he would be, his rookie contract would have been worth just over $14 million. Cine’s dream of being a first-round pick still came true thanks to the Vikings, but he will now have some extra motivation whenever he is playing against the Buccaneers for leading him astray and putting that dream in real jeopardy.
