If the past few weeks at TCO Performance Center are any indication, young safety Lewis Cine might not have a future with the Vikings. He currently finds himself buried on the depth chart behind fellow safeties Harrison Smith, Cam Bynum, Josh Metellus and Theo Jackson, and more than likely faces an uphill climb to make the team.

Not ideal considering the Vikings selected him in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

Though it might end up being too little, too late, Cine made a statement Saturday afternoon in Cleveland, playing a starring role as the Vikings earned a 27-12 preseason win over the Browns. He finished with 10 tackles, a sack and an interception while playing a majority of the snaps on defense.

“It feels good to be running around playing football,” Cine said. “It feels good to show my true potential.”

It started with Cine hauling in a tipped ball for an interception. It continued with Cine laying the boom in the open field. It finished with Cine blitzing off the edge and recording a sack. All of it impressed head coach Kevin O’Connell in the immediate aftermath.

“It was great to see him really look comfortable out there and make some plays on the football,” O’Connell said. “I felt his physicality, and I know the guys on the sideline were fired up to see Lew do his thing.”

Will it be enough for Cine to make the team? That remains to be seen.

The glass-half-full people will say the performance from Cine could be a launching pad as he tries to get his career back on track. The glass-half-empty people will say the fact Cine played so much in a preseason game isn’t a good sign about his standing.

The reality of the situation likely exists somewhere in the middle.

Hall scores perfect rating

After watching from the sideline as veteran quarterback Nick Mullens led the offense for the first half, young quarterback Jaren Hall got his chance during the second half. He made the most of it, completing 4 of 5 passes for 87 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

He scored a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3 for his efforts.

Asked if that’s the new standard for himself, Hall laughed before answering the question. Never mind that it’s only a preseason game in the grand scheme of things. He vowed to enjoy the moment while not taking anything for granted along the way.

“It’s a game I’ll always remember,” Hall said. “Just to play and execute the simple plays that are being called.”

Corral gets some snaps

The debut of young quarterback Matt Corral didn’t go according to plan. A little more than 24 hours after signing with the Vikings, presumably for some added depth so late in training camp, Corral got a few snaps under his belt during the preseason game.

After executing a couple of handoffs, Corral dropped back to pass for the first time. There was some obvious miscommunication from the onset and Corral was sacked in the end zone for a safety.

“Those things are going to happen,” O’Connell said. “We’ll get Matt ready to go.”

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