Bengals CB Dax Hill Makes His Preferred Position Very Clear

Dax Hill has spent his entire NFL career being asked to move. From free safety to outside cornerback to slot corner and back again, the Cincinnati Bengals’ 2022 first-round pick has rarely been afforded the luxury of positional stability. Heading into what is the most important season of his professional life, the final year of his rookie contract, Hill is making one thing clear: he wants to stay put.

“I’d prefer to stay outside, but you never know how the season goes,” Hill said Tuesday. He also said he doesn’t want to bounce back and forth between the slot and the boundary. “Just staying in one spot I feel that’s ideal for development and my mental health,” Hill said (h/t Mike Petraglia of CLNS).

Drafted out of Michigan in the first round in 2022, Hill spent his first two seasons at free safety before the Bengals converted him to cornerback heading into 2024 In the five games he played at outside cornerback that season before suffering a torn ACL, Hill had been, remarkably, the Bengals’ best cornerback. 

The injury ended what was beginning to look like a breakthrough season before it had a real chance to develop.

He returned in 2025 and was shifted to the slot to replace the departing Mike Hilton as Cincinnati’s nickel corner.

Hill handled the transition with professionalism, but the results told a story of a player still finding his footing in an unfamiliar spot. Starting from Week 9, the first game he was officially moved back to the outside in the starting lineup, Hill ranked 14th among all cornerbacks in yards allowed per coverage snap, per NFL Next Gen Stats. From Weeks 11 through 18, he earned a 78.9 PFF grade playing primarily on the boundary, the 16th-best mark of any cornerback in football during that stretch. 

Zac Taylor confirmed as much heading into the offseason. Taylor explicitly said that Hill’s best position was outside cornerback.

But the Bengals’ decision to select CB Tacario Davis in the third round could complicate things for Hill down the stretch. If Davis develops quickly enough in training camp to warrant a starting role on the outside, Hill could find himself pushed back into the slot once again.

It is also worth noting that Hill is entering a contract year on a fully guaranteed $12.68 million fifth-year option. Next offseason, the Bengals will have to decide whether to extend Hill and DJ Turner II simultaneously, at a time when the cornerback market is skyrocketing, with the top 20 contracts averaging $21.4 million per year.