Even though Cine’s and Booth’s short stays in Minnesota were affected by injuries, the chief reason for their prompt exits was the fact they couldn’t distinguish themselves in a secondary where there were jobs to be had. Josh Metellus, a sixth-round holdover from the 2020 draft, and Theo Jackson, a 2022 practice-squad pickup, leapt over Cine on the depth chart. A year after drafting Booth, the Vikings went to the third round for another corner (Mekhi Blackmon), before drafting Khyree Jackson in the fourth round this year and signing five cornerbacks in training camp. But Adofo-Mensah didn’t waste time dispatching Cine and Booth at a time when some of his counterparts might have hung onto their former draft picks in an attempt at vindication.

Using Pro Football Reference’s Approximate Value metric, which compares the production of different players across positions and eras, Cine is tied with Hayden as the least productive first-round pick to play a game for the Vikings. Laquon Treadwell, the receiver the Vikings took 23rd overall in 2016, is eighth on the list. But while Treadwell never posted more than 302 receiving yards in a season in Minnesota and caught just two touchdown passes, he played 53 games over the course of his full rookie contract. 2004 first-round pick Kenechi Udeze, who had only 11 sacks with the Vikings, got four full seasons; Troy Williamson, the receiver the Vikings drafted seventh overall to replace Randy Moss, got three.

At the time of the deal with the Lions and the Cine pick, Adofo-Mensah referenced his background as a commodities trader on Wall Street, where he’d developed a stomach for uncertainty by knowing his decisions would be critiqued within seconds. “They keep score, very quickly,” he said. “There’s a humility I have because you spent half of your week being wrong.”

History, it seems, is unlikely to view Adofo-Mensah’s first Vikings draft favorably. His top two picks are no longer on the roster, while his next three are fighting to keep jobs. The Vikings are projected to have just four picks in next spring’s draft, and Adofo-Mensah’s first two drafts followed two Rick Spielman drafts with a pair of stars and little depth.

If the deal he made to draft Cine defied convention, though, so did the speed with which he moved on from a mistake (and perhaps the entente he created with Lions GM Brad Holmes facilitated the T.J. Hockenson trade seven months after the Cine deal). Adofo-Mensah showed he won’t hang onto underperforming assets out of sentiment; he’ll hope the remaining picks from his first three draft classes yield some winners.