Cincinnati Bengals former first-round pick Dax Hill looks en route to a major breakout.
Questions chased Hill into his third season this year as he made the switch from safety to cornerback.
On paper, Hill always had the athleticism and skills to thrive as a boundary corner. But Cam Taylor-Britt currently has a lock on the No. 1 CB label for the team and former second-rounder DJ Turner has obvious upside at the opposite spot.
But over the course of training camp, Hill has slowly taken over with the first-team defense and looked downright stellar in preseason action.
If the eye test isn’t good enough for onlookers, the Pro Football Focus grades tell quite a story, too:
Dax Hill this preseason:
🐅 90.2 coverage grade
🐅 25 coverage snaps
🐅 4 targets
🐅 1 reception allowed
🐅 3 forced incompletions
🐅 56.3 passer rating allowed pic.twitter.com/MfNNTZjQSq— PFF CIN Bengals (@PFF_Bengals) August 21, 2024
This is certialy the highest, best end of possible outcomes for the Bengals and Hill — so far. After he and others struggled to replace the loss of Jessie Bates effectively last year, the team signed outside free agent Geno Stone and brought back Vonn Bell to tandem with Jordan Battle, another rising star in the secondary.
As of right now, Hill is a major reason that cornerback strength has gone from a weakness to a strength for the Bengals in the span of one offseason. And if he continues on this path, the long-term outlook of the secondary is fantastic.
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