The Cincinnati Bengals exercised the fifth-year option for DB Dax Hill, for which he’s grateful—for a multitude of reasons. Picking up his option guaranteed him $12,682,000 for next season, essentially doubling his career earnings to that point. But more importantly to him, it affords him another opportunity to earn his paycheck. And now that it’s a bigger paycheck, he only has more to prove.

“I’m glad they did it. Another year I’m here. I love the city. It’s good to be here another year”, Hill told the Bengals’ website, via Geoff Hobson. “Prove myself a little bit more. I feel like I haven’t really done much. Obviously, I’ve done a little bit of everything, but just really hit on the ceiling that I want”.

The 31st-overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, Dax Hill is a two-year starter for the Bengals. Except he only started five games last season after suffering a season-ending injury. In 2024, he moved from safety to cornerback, hoping to catch on there. In those five games, he did not intercept a pass, with two for his career. He did register 25 tackles, a sack, and two passes defensed. As a 17-game starter at safety in 2023, he registered 110 tackles, including six for loss.

But Hill is convinced that he has another level he hasn’t shown the Bengals and the NFL yet. “I felt like I haven’t really reached that. I’m on the way to that and striving to get there”, he said. “It’s definitely something I can achieve. It’s just a matter of staying in that position and just doing it”.

The thing is, it sounds like the Bengals still want to try to use Dax Hill everywhere. After all, his versatility is what helped land him in the first round in the first place. He can play anywhere in the secondary and can serve as an effective blitzer, as well. It’s just a matter of doing it at a high level and doing it consistently.

Bengals DB coach Charles Burks told the team’s website that Hill is “the ultimate chess piece”. He added that when you have a player with that skill set, “you put him in position to take advantage” of it. Perhaps that’s one thing they will work on this offseason.

Potentially new on the agenda is more work in the slot, as the Bengals never re-signed Mike Hilton. They do have other outside cornerbacks, but Burks seems to want to try everyone everywhere (but not all at once). They may end up just sticking Hill wherever they need him most.