Steelers' obvious connection to recently waived former first-rounder is pure fool's gold

Come Wednesday afternoon, the waiver wire deadline will have passed and the roster deadline will be nearly 24 hours behind us.

Teams will begin putting the finishing touches on their roster, with the Pittsburgh Steelers' initial 53 having a few holes that need filling.

One of their holes is defensive back, and more specifically, safety depth.

And following the Minnesota Vikings' decision to waive former first-round safety Lews Cine, Pittsburgh is probably looking into acquiring him.

Here's why that may be a mistake:

Cine Waived by Vikings

Now there are a lot of dots that can be connected between Cine and the Steelers. For one, he is a former Georgia Bulldog. Pittsburgh has a long lineage of drafting Georgia players, but especially of late.

The team currently boasts three significant contributors that won a national championship alongside Cine, including Broderick Jones, Darnell Washington, and of course, George Pickens.

Cine is right up Mike Tomlin's alley. A physical player with a championship pedigree who comes from a premier program and was coached under a person who mirrors his own style in Kirby Smart, the move would make a lot of sense.

But when you realize how and why a first-round pick was released just two years into his rookie deal, you see why it might be a bad idea:

Things didn’t work out with Lewis Cine in Minnesota for multiple reasons. It started when he suffered a compound fracture of his tibia against the New Orleans Saints in week four of his rookie year in 2022. He had played just two defensive snaps at that point. When he returned, Brian Flores took over for Ed Donatell and he didn’t fit the new defense. Josh Metellus quickly took over the role Cine was thought for and he played in just 8 defensive snaps, all of which came against the Green Bay Packers in the fourth quarter of a blowout. If you want a safety whose job is just to crash downhill, he can be an asset but it can’t be in a super aggressive defense that needs sure tacklers, something he just isn’t on a consistent basis.

- Tyler Forness , A to Z Sports Minnesota

Look, if Cine is signed as a member of the practice squad should he clear waivers (which is unlikely) then no harm no foul.

And at this point, that may be his best chance to stick in the league.

But anything else would be a stretch and a potential red flag in the Steelers' roster-building process.

Related: Steelers rookie sneaks his way onto the initial 53-man roster in a surprising move from Pittsburgh