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It was only a matter of time before the Cincinnati Bengals had Dax Hill and Jessie Bates on the field together.
Bates, as expected, returned to the team from his franchise tag holdout early enough to be ready for Week 1. That formality out of the way, the attention now turns to how defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo might use Hill, Bates and Vonn Bell in a rotation — or on the field together.
Interestingly, Anarumo confirmed Hill — the first-rounder this year — will play special teams as the third safety. He’ll otherwise be involved in the base defense.
“Dax has his role. Jessie has his. They are two separate entities” Anarumo said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “We’ve been practicing Dax at the things he’s going to do through the year even before Jessie got here.”
In other words, Bates will have his normal workload in the expected places. Hill will plug holes all over the defense, as expected. This summer was about prepping him for that, which explains why he saw snaps at both safety spots and at cornerback spots while even working with linebackers to know calls and alignments.
Expect to see plenty of three-safety sets this year from the Bengals, plus Hill just generally all over the place as the first key piece of depth.
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