Cincinnati now will have Hill under contract through 2026, allowing the organization more time to evaluate him at the cornerback position, coming back from a 2024 ACL tear and now working under new defensive coordinator Al Golden.
Hill’s salary for the 2026 season is projected to be $12.682 million, according to OverTheCap.com.
“I don’t even put a price tag or value on it,” Hill said last week when asked if a fifth-year option would show he is valued. “I think it’s kind of just, you know, if they do it, it’s another year, another year to prove my worth.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The Bengals still aren’t exactly sure what they have in Hill, but the fifth-year option gives them an opportunity to keep him around without having to negotiate a new deal yet.
Cincinnati drafted Hill out of the University of Michigan in 2022 with the No. 31 overall pick, planning for him to back up Jessie Bates before he eventually left for the Falcons the next offseason. Hill struggled in his first and only season as a starting free safety, but the Bengals liked his versatility and decided to put that to the test at a new position last year.
After moving to outside cornerback last offseason, Hill ended up beating out former Michigan teammate DJ Turner, who came in as a 2023 second-round pick and a true corner, for the starting job opposite Cam Taylor-Britt. He ended up looking like the team’s best cornerback but tore his ACL in Week 5.
Hill, who has played 37 games with 24 starts in three years, has been at the team’s offseason workouts, able to lift and run, but hopes to be fully cleared by training camp. It’s possible the Bengals could move him to the nickel cornerback role vacated by Mike Hilton, who remains an unsigned free agent, but Hill said last week he didn’t know what the plan was. The Bengals didn’t draft any defensive backs.
Taylor-Britt will be looking for a bounce-back season and Turner also is coming back from injury after a broken clavicle sidelined him in Week 11, just as he started looking better toward the end of his six starts.
“The competition is still going to be there,” Hill said. “I think that’s one thing that we emphasize, making each other better in that competition. I think that’s something you need from a defensive standpoint, we face so much like on the field, and you want that competition within the group to get everyone better. So, yeah, I mean same faces, but I feel like it’s a good year, new start, but a great year ahead of us.”
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