EAGAN — When Lewis Cine walked off the practice field on the Friday before his preseason debut, it hadn’t hit him that that he would be putting on an NFL uniform and trotting out on an NFL field for the first time on Sunday when the Minnesota Vikings face the Las Vegas Raiders.
“I haven’t really put too much thought into it but I think when I arrive there and it’s showtime and the lights are on then it’s going to be like, wow, I’m really here,” Cine said.
Cine has been too busy with the learning curve from college to the NFL to think about his first chance under the bright lights. In the opening weeks of camp, Cine has discovered that no matter how good his defense was at Georgia or how similar the basics of the scheme were to the Vikings, nothing can emulate the complexity and talent of the pro game.
“Learning new concepts…in terms of offenses and defenses, college is not the same,” Cine said. “Here every quarterback can make those throws and do those things, so there’s certain things you can’t do. You got to protect your teammates in terms of staying deep and all that stuff.”
The Vikings’ first-round pick has only taken a handful of first-team reps in practice thus far, working almost exclusively with the twos alongside special teamer Josh Metellus. Only second-year defensive back Cam Bynum has been paired with Harrison Smith so far.
While he hasn’t been playing with Smith very often in camp, Cine has been trying to soak up as much knowledge as he can from his All-Pro teammate.
“He’s a quiet guy but personally he talks to me a lot… I’m even shocked,” Cine said. “I take a whole lot of knowledge from him. It’s not all about football, it’s about life, experiences and all that. But we’re becoming friends slowly and gradually. That’s all you can ask. I’m a young guy trying to learn from him as a vet and he’s taking me in.”
Sunday’s preseason game against the Raiders represents the former Georgia star’s first opportunity outside of practice to show the coaching staff what he can do at full speed. And full speed is pretty fast for the safety who ran a 4.37 40-yard dash, more than one-tenth of a second faster than the two other highest drafted safeties this year. But that has to translate to game speed, which comes along with mastering the scheme and techniques of Ed Donatell’s defense.
“He’s a focused, mature young guy, he comes focused every day to get better,” Donatell said. “He’s learning a lot of things. Our veterans are helping him; Harrison, Pat P helping him along the way…he’s a very physical player and he’s very sudden, very fast.”
A strong showing in the game by Cine could set the table for a big week in the battle for a starting job. The Vikings have joint practices next week against the San Francisco 49ers, which will be highly competitive and weigh heavily in coaches’ decisions.
“Me and the coaches already talked, nothing is going to be handed to me, I’m going to have to work and I definitely understand that,” Cine said. “I know there’s a place for me on the defense, I know I’m going to contribute somewhere.”
That place could involve a three-safety package, which Donatell has talked about potentially using this season. Of course, Cine is still aiming to win the starting job but he doesn’t seem to be putting too much pressure on himself. In talking about his approach to camp, he said that avoiding frustrations is key to improving.
“You can’t be mad at yourself, you have to understand that some things do take time in terms of learning new stuff and you have to take the little wins, you can’t be hard on yourself too many times,” Cine said. “I’ve been stacking the days. I have a lot of won reps and have lost some, you learn from the losses but also not to get too down on myself.”
“I’m still learning but it’s a marathon not a sprint,” Cine added.
