Daxton Hill

From 11-tackle backup to 66-tackle starter — then back to floating role in 2024.

The 2022 first-round pick (31st overall) sat behind Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell as a rookie — 11 tackles all season. Year 2 was the breakout: 66 tackles, 11 PDs, and 1.5 sacks as a near-full-time starter. Then 2024 cratered to 16 tackles with injuries and rotation. 2025 is a return-to-form season at 56 tackles and 11 PDs through the recorded games.

22 career PDs vs. just 2.5 career sacks — Hill is a coverage safety, not a blitz piece.

The PD-to-sack ratio is the giveaway on role: 24 PDs against 2.5 sacks. Lou Anarumo (then Al Golden) deploy Hill primarily as a deep-zone/slot defender, not as a green-dog rusher. 2023 alone produced 11 PDs, which would be a top-15 safety total in any given season.

31st-overall pick now in his 4th year — Hill's PDs/season pace tracks above the average 2022 1st-round DB class.

Hill was the 5th DB taken in the 2022 draft (after Stingley, Gardner, McDuffie, Booth). Of those five, only Gardner and McDuffie made early Pro Bowls. Hill's career line — 149 tackles, 24 PDs, 2.5 sacks in 4 seasons — puts him in the middle tier of that class.

The 11 PDs in both 2023 and 2025 are the strongest part of his ledger: only 2 safeties leaguewide hit 11+ PDs in 2023, and Hill was one of them at age 22.

2024 was the lost year — 16 tackles, 1 TFL, 0 PDs through most of the schedule.

After breaking out in 2023, Hill's 2024 collapsed to 16 tackles and just 2 PDs — a hamstring injury and rotation issues knocked him out of starting reps. By the time he was healthy, the Bengals had moved on with Geno Stone and rookie depth.

The 2025 rebound — 56 tackles, 11 PDs, and 0 sacks — is the kind of clean coverage-safety line Cincinnati expected when they spent the 31st pick on him. The fifth-year option decision now leans cleanly on this season's tape.

4 full seasons, all in Cincinnati — Hill is one of just two 2022 first-round DBs still on his original team.

Hill has played 149 career tackles across 4 seasons, all in stripes. Among 2022 first-round DBs, only he and Sauce Gardner remain in their original locker rooms — Stingley got his Houston extension early, McDuffie is locked in long-term in KC, and Andrew Booth was waived by Minnesota in 2024.

The Cincinnati continuity matters for the fifth-year option math: Hill is the only safety in the building with a clear post-2025 contractual claim.