White Jersey (Maillot Blanc)
Last year’s winner: Joe Mixon
This year’s winner: Daxton Hill
The White Jersey signifies the best young rider at the Tour de France. It goes to the best placed overall rider under 25 years old. We will take it a step further for this exercise and limit it to rookies or first-year players.
This year’s Cincinnati Bengals winner of the Maillot Blanc is Daxton Hill. He fits the bill as the youngest player on the Bengals roster. Moreover, as a first-round draft pick, he will be expected to be an eventual leader of the defense, despite his young age.
A young rider must be versatile to win the Maillot Blanc at the Tour de France. He must punch quickly up sharp hills, fly down mountains while throwing caution to the wind, summit mountains with the best climbers, and be fast enough to compete in individual trials. Moreover, if the white jersey wearer is not his team’s leader, he must do all these things while looking after his leader while waiting for his time to shine.
Hill has the versatility fitting of the holder of the White Jersey. He can cover wide receivers on the boundary and in the slot. In addition, he can blitz from anywhere on the field, disrupting the offensive backfield. Also, Hill will be expected to play corner and safety in Lou Anarumo’s defense.
The White Jersey wearer is often looked at as the next one up. If Jessie Bates does not sign an extension, Hill is seen as the heir apparent to Bates at the safety position.
His age, versatility, and the expectations of being a first-round pick are why Hill, the Bengals’ youngest player, earns the Maillot Blanc this year.