Bengals' Dax Hill making position switch from safety to cornerback

The Cincinnati Bengals drafted Dax Hill in the first round in 2022 to be their eventual starting safety. After a roller-coaster 2023 campaign, the club re-evaluated Hill’s situation.

Over the weekend, head coach Zac Taylor told reporters that the plan is to move the former first-rounder from safety to cornerback.

“We’ve seen it from him and we think it’s the best opportunity right now to help our team,” Taylor said, via Kelsey Conway of The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Hill’s struggles as a full-time starter led the Bengals to sign Geno Stone and bring back Vonn Bell in free agency. The former Michigan produced suffered miscommunication breakdowns and, despite impressive speed, failed to make game-changing plays.

Hill has experience from his days at Michigan as an outside and nickel corner. The Bengals expect him to battle for playing time with second-year outside corner DJ Turner on the outside — opposite Cam Taylor-Britt— and Mike Hilton as the nickel cornerback.

“One of the reasons you took him was because of all the various things you’d seen on tape from him,” Taylor said. “He’s a superb athlete, he’s got great size, and he did a good amount of coverage at Michigan, playing inside covering slots, played some outside. The versatility is what made him the pick that he was. We’re really excited for his future. He has done a tremendous job embracing this opportunity, and I’m excited to see him go out there and compete.”

A first-round pick who needs to battle for a starting job wasn’t the plan with the Bengals selected Hill in 2022, but credit the club for not sitting tight and hoping things would simply work out.