Bengals to make major change in secondary following 2024 NFL Draft

The Cincinnati Bengals plan to make a major change to their secondary following the 2024 NFL Draft. After playing the first two yers of his career at safety -- and starting all 17 games at the position for Cincinnati last season -- the Bengals plan to move third-year plan Dax Hill to cornerback.

Bengals coach Zac Taylor reveled the expected position change while speaking with media members following the draft.

“We've seen it from him and we think it's the best opportunity right now to help our team,” Taylor said of making the move.

Though he's played strictly safety in the pros, Hill does have some experience at playing corner from his college days at Michigan, and the Bengals are hoping he can tap into that experience while making the shift from safety to corner.

“One of the reasons you took him was because of all the various things you'd seen on tape from him,” Taylor said of Hill. “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.”

Not a huge surprise

The Bengals shifting Hill away from safety isn't a huge surprise, as the team added two starting-level safeties in free agency in Geno Stone and Vonn Bell. The team is also high on second-year safety Jordan Battle. The team also snagged safety Daijahn Anthony from Ole Miss in the seventh round of the draft. That's a good amount of depth at the position.

The Bengals also previously teased the idea of finding a new role for Hill.

“Finding the best role for him to maximize his skill set would be something we’re working on this offseason,”Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said of Hill earlier this year. ". . . Finding the best fit will be up to our defensive coaching staff and (head coach Zac Taylor) to determine: Where can this guy help us the most to win football games? . . . “We’ll continue to assess all the roles as we go through the offseason."

So now, Hill will continue his career in Cincinnati as a cornerback where he will compete with the likes of DJ Turner, Cam Taylor-Britt and Mike Hilton for playing time.