Bengals Coach Zac Taylor Puts More Context on Intent to Keep Dax Hill at Outside Cornerback

The race to win the starting job at nickel cornerback is going to be one of the most interesting, wide-open training camp battles the Cincinnati Bengals have had in a long time.

Presumably the player lining up there for the first team drill in Wednesday’s practice will be Jalen Davis, a nine-year veteran who has had just three NFL starts, each of which came in the final seven weeks of last season.

Given Davis’ lack of experience and age (30), there is opening for a number of other players to push him for the job.

But perhaps more interesting than the question of who will win the job is who will not.

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor definitively said Monday at the annual pre-camp luncheon that it will not be Dax Hill, who has been jostled across the field from safety to nickel corner to outside corner since the team made him a first-round pick in 2022.

“Dax absolutely has grown as an outside corner,” Taylor said. “That's where we want him to play. That's absolutely where he's going to play.”

But not 100 percent of the time.

Taylor was quick to clarify that certain situations could result in Hill moving back inside.

“But there's going to be times with any corner that they go inside for coverage reasons,” Taylor said. “But again, Dax has done a really good job of growing (outside), and that's where we want to leave him."

With Hill eligible for an extension and possibly heading to free agency next offseason, he certainly would prefer to stay outside, where the money is greater than in the slot.

When it comes to the players who could challenge Davis for the starting job, they range from rookies to seven-year veteran free agent safety Kyle Dugger.

The Bengals drafted Tacario Davis in the third round, but his height (6-foot-4) doesn’t make him an ideal fit to play in the slot.

In addition to Dugger, Cincinnati signed Ja’Sir Taylor in free agency. A sixth-round pick of the Chargers in 2022, Taylor made his share of plays in the offseason and has 12 career starts, four times as many as Davis.

Primarily a special teams player for the Chargers and, following a trade, the Jets last year, Taylor played 41 of his 138 defensive snaps in the slot.

But in 2024, he played 311 of his 353 defensive snaps inside.

The Bengals also have a dark-horse candidate in Bralyn Lux, a 2025 undrafted free agent who the team promoted from the practice squad in December.

And DJ Ivey is one of the top special teams players on the roster and could parlay that value into a chance to play inside.

There are also 2024 fifth-round pick Josh Newton and 2026 undrafted college free agent Ceyair Wright.

“We've got guys that are competing in there, and we've brought guys in this offseason that'll get some competition in there,” director of player personnel Duke Tobin said. “We’ve got young guys who will grow in their second and third years at that position. So we’ve got a lot of guys fighting for that spot.”

The way Tobin initially referenced Davis sounded far from an endorsement, but the praise grew as he spoke.

“I don’t write him off because he knows how to play football,” Tobin said. “He’s comfortable, he’s really motivated and he’s talented when he’s out there.

“Somebody’s got to develop into (a starter),” Tobin added. “The job JD did for us last year was exceptional. I look forward to seeing him progress off of that.”

Sometimes when a camp battle is waged between two players, the job can be won by default, with the team choosing the lesser of two evils.

But when there as many players in the mix as the Bengals have, it should produced a spirited competition that will result in the best fit for the job stepping up and grabbing the job.

Then again, some of the corners who might appear to be good options in the slot could prove to be better fits outside.

Or vice versa.

“If we get into camp and (the coaches) feel like the guy's better outside, then he'll probably play more outside,” Tobin said. “And if we get into camp and a guy shows the ability to play inside in the slot and suddenly we think, ‘Oh this guy can really affect us in there,’ we'll move another guy in there.

“That's the role of the coaches is to figure out who's excelling at every spot, and I know we'll do that,” Tobin added. “I'm excited about the DB group.”

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