The Minnesota Vikings have had a rough offseason. They have dealt with a string of unfortunate events, headlined by the tragic passing of rookie cornerback Khyree Jackson. The team is also dealing with multiple injuries that should linger into the regular season. To make matters worse, the Vikings finally parted ways with one of their former first-round picks.

The Vikings waived former first-round safety Lewis Cine on Tuesday, according to Ari Meirov on X, formerly Twitter.

The Minnesota Vikings selected Lewis Cine with the 32nd overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Minnesota originally had the 12th overall pick in the draft and opted to trade down with the Detroit Lions to acquire picks 32, 34, and 66. If they had stayed at 12, they could have picked Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton who is now a star with the Baltimore Ravens.

Minnesota tried to trade Cine prior to waiving him but could not get a deal done. Cine had $4 million left on his contract, which will count as dead money against Minnesota's cap unless another team claims him on waivers.

Lewis Cine's professional career got off the a tough start. He suffered a serious leg injury during his rookie season that significantly stunted his development. After battling back from injury, Cine was not able to win a spot on the Vikings final 53-man roster.

The Vikings decided to keep Camryn Bynum and Harrison Smith as their starting safeties with Theo Jackson and Jay Ward as reserves.

Cine is expected to be picked up by another team on waivers. However, it is possible that he clears waivers and is instead picked up as a free agent so that his new team doesn't have to take on his current contract.

Vikings enter the 2024 regular season with multiple offensive players on injured reserve, PUP list

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The Vikings have a handful of important players who will enter the 2024 regular season banged up. Several of these players are on the offensive side of the ball.

J.J. McCarthy is the biggest name on the list. Vikings fans, and many NFL talking heads, expected McCarthy to compete with Sam Darnold for the team's starting QB job. In fact, many believed that McCarthy could capture the job at some point during his rookie season. However, McCarthy's rookie season ended prematurely with a meniscus injury.

There is also tight end T.J. Hockenson, who suffered torn ACL and MCL injuries in a Week 16 matchup against the Detroit Lions in 2023. Minnesota will leave Hockenson on the PUP list, which guarantees that he will miss the first four games of the 2024 season. He is expected to be healthy enough to return for the regular season.

Finally, veteran offensive lineman Dalton Risner was placed on IR on Monday after sustaining an unknown injury. Like Hockenson, Risner will miss at least the first four games of the 2024 season. Minnesota re-signed Risner earlier this offseason.

Hopefully the Vikings can get healthy and make a strong push to end the regular season.