S, Georgia
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 200 lbs
Class: Junior
A four-star recruit in 2019, Cine was the No. 45 overall prospect and the No. 3 safety in the class. He earned 36 offers and had five visits at schools including Texas, Michigan, and Florida. He eventually committed to Georgia and worked his way into a starting role as a sophomore in 2020.
Cine enters the draft off the back of an excellent 2021 season. He was a crucial part of the Bulldogs’ secondary, earning First Team All-SEC honours and being named a Third Team All-American. He was also named the Defensive MVP in the National Championship as Georgia won their first national title since 1980.
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Strengths
Cine offers some of the best processing ability in this safety class. His instincts are outstanding and his first step is rarely ever wrong. He clearly possesses an advanced understanding of route combinations and distributions and will trigger quickly once he keys the play. He also shows the ability to play with anticipation, often jumping routes before the receiver has got into their break.
This helped to make Cine one of the most reliable coverage players on the Bulldogs defense throughout his college career. He was targeted 97 times during his time at Georgia, allowing just 694 yards. He had a solid 11 pass breakups throughout his career and allowed a passer rating of just 85.2.
In addition to his ability in coverage, Cine also projects as one of the best run defending safeties in this year’s class. His processing speed is once again outstanding and he is so quick to key the run from a deep alignment and get downhill. He displays a really good understanding of his responsibilities, constricting running lanes and forcing the ball carrier back inside.
He pairs all of this with excellent ability as a tackler. Cine takes consistently strong pursuit angles and plays with excellent toughness. Whilst he isn’t the biggest safety, he plays with great physicality to lay big hits on ball carriers. His technique is good too, and he showcases the form required to consistently wrap up in space. Cine has logged just 11 missed tackles on his 159 career attempts, one of the lowest rates of any safeties in this year’s class.
Weaknesses
Whilst Cine put up some incredibly impressive testing numbers at the Combine, this didn’t always show up on film. He had occasional issues when working as a single high safety and lacks the range to work effectively from sideline to sideline. There were also times where he struggled to stick with quicker receivers in single coverage when playing from the slot. Cine is more than athletic enough to be a great NFL safety, but he isn’t ideally suited to a rangy single-high role.
Cine also lacks ideal ball skills. He logged a forced incompletion rate of just 11.3% during his college career and had just two interceptions in three seasons. This is partly due to his average play strength, which limits his effectiveness in contested catch situations. His hands are also average and saw him miss several opportunities to turn pass breakups into interceptions.
Bottom Line
Cine is one of the smartest safety prospects you will come across, with excellent instincts in coverage and against the run. He has two years of high level production in the SEC to his name and brings the competitive toughness that NFL teams want at the safety position. He might not fit every defense, but his football IQ makes him one of the top prospects at the position in this year’s class.
Ideal role: Split field safety
Round projection: 1st round
