Vikings Showed ‘Very Little Interest’ in $3 Million All-Pro, Insider Says

Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah admitted that first-round pick Lewis Cine hasn’t lived up to his billing through his first two seasons — a sign of some potential regret considering the Vikings could have had Baltimore Ravens All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton.

Inheriting the 12th overall pick in the 2022 draft, the Vikings had many needs on defense, including at safety. Hamilton was the consensus No. 1 safety in that year’s draft class. However, the Vikings did not have a strong enough opinion on Hamilton to stick and pick at No. 12 overall, KSTP’s Darren Wolfson reported.

“They didn’t like him. I said it in the moment, I’ll reiterate it now: They didn’t have a healthy opinion for whatever reason,” Wolfson said on a January 11 episode of SKOR North’s “Mackey and Judd” podcast. ” I haven’t gone down the rabbit hole too much, but I just know on the surface, pre-draft, there was very little interest shown in Kyle Hamilton. The Kyle Hamilton camp just never got any sort of vibe that the Vikings were all-in on him or even half-in on him. He just wasn’t their guy.”

Instead of signing Hamilton, who earned All-Pro honors in just his second season as a cornerstone of the Ravens’ No. 1-ranked defense, the Vikings opted to trade back and take Cine 32nd overall — a move that produced two additional picks in the second round.

Coming off a lower leg fracture he suffered three weeks into his rookie season, Cine was a healthy scratch in 8 of 17 games and logged just eight defensive snaps this season  — all in a blowout Week 16 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Meanwhile Hamilton, on a four-year, $16.2 million contract, has outplayed his $3.6 million cap hit this season. Over The Cap has valued his 2023 performance to be worth $13 million this season.

Adofo-Mensah used his top two picks to rebuild the Vikings’ defense, however, Cine nor second-rounder Andrew Booth Jr. have become consistent contributors to the defense so far.