Throughout the summer leading up to the regular season, we will go through the entire 2024 Cincinnati Bengals roster. Every single day until the season opener against the New England Patriots , we will break down a player on the roster including his background, contract status, and path towards making the team.
Today, we reintroduce safety cornerback Dax Hill. The Bengals' first-round pick from 2022 spent the last two years developing and starting at a position that just didn't suit him. Now, he's now a starter at a position he had never extensively played before in his football life, and he looks better than he ever has.
Dax Hill
- Age: 23
- Year: 3rd
- Position: Cornerback
- College: Michigan
- Previous Teams: None
- Jersey Number: 23
Hill was drafted by the Bengals with the 31st overall pick in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He spent three years at Michigan and played every single season including all 13 games as a true freshman in 2019 with three starts at strong safety to close the season out. Hill was the top-rated safety recruit coming out of high school in '19, but Michigan played him mostly in the box and out of the slot during his first two years. Following the shortened COVID-19 season of 2020, he started all 14 games in 2021 at the "STAR" position, which is essentially the nickel cornerback in the slot. He led the team in passes defensed (11) and interceptions (2) on his way to First Team All-Big Ten honors.
An early declare for the draft, Hill was a 21-year old elite athlete coming off a strong season at a major program. That's most of the recipe for a first-round pick, but Hill also had the makings of a position-less prospect which nearly dropped him out of the top 32 picks altogether. He was a great slot defender in college. The question became what would he be in the NFL, and what position would be worth that high of an investment?
The Bengals selected him with the initial plan of playing him at safety. Not only was he the highest-graded player on their board, they were already planning for Jessie Bates III's eventual departure a year in advance. Hill would spend most of his rookie season learning behind Bates at free safety and only saw the field for 150 snaps (including postseason). He did start one game for Mike Hilton in the slot late in the year, but he mostly came off the bench in specific situations.
Hill did take over for Bates in 2023, and the results were chaotic. He posted 11 passes defensed and two interceptions, but explosive plays rained down on top of him and the rest of the Bengals' secondary. Communication issues were rampant, and his lack of experience showed up more often than the flashes he made in coverage. The Bengals made wholesale changes at the position and officially revealed that Hill would move to cornerback following the 2024 draft.
Contract details
Hill is in the third year of his four-year, $11,667,018 rookie contract. He will earn a guaranteed base salary of $1,765,638 for the 2024 season.
When adding on the $5,665,104 signing bonus that will be prorated throughout the entirety of his deal, Hill's cap hit for the season will be $3,181,914.
Roster outlook
When OTAs came around, Hill entered an open competition for the starting cornerback job DJ Turner II had last year. The two split reps pretty evenly for the majority of the offseason. The tide started to turn in Hill's favor during the preseason opener when he broke up three passes in coverage. He's since been taking all the reps with the starters.
The competition is as good as done. Hill started as a two-way high school player, played in the slot in college, was developed for two years at safety in the NFL, and now looks the part as a true cornerback all before his 24th birthday. Only truly talented players can survive such a turbulent playing journey at a young age.
Projected role: Starting cornerback
Previous player breakdowns
Related: Bengals Roster Breakdown: DJ Turner II is defending a starting spot he ran away with as a rookie
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