The Cincinnati Bengals saw enough from their cornerback room last year before two season-ending injuries to run it back with essentially the same group in 2025, but there still remain a lot of questions surrounding the secondary.
Cam Taylor-Britt was supposed to be the one the Bengals didn’t have to worry about but struggled to find consistency early in the season to the point he was twice benched. He kept his starting role pretty much out of necessity after Dax Hill tore his ACL and then D.J. Turner broke his clavicle six weeks later.
Hill was just starting to settle into his new position after making the switch from safety when he went down in Week 5. At the time, he looked like the best corner of the group. Turner, who didn’t do enough to win a starting job over Hill in training camp, had just started playing better when he was injured as well.
Now the Bengals are hoping they can get the most out of those three talented players, while also replacing Mike Hilton at nickel. Hilton remains unsigned in free agency, and Cincinnati didn’t make any big adds to the room this offseason.
Let’s take a look at the past performances of the Bengals’ current cornerbacks, and how they are expected to stack up in 2025 with help from some analysis and data from Pro Football Focus. This is the last in a series of pieces breaking down each position group for the Bengals before training camp begins July 23.
Projected starters: Dax Hill, Josh Newton, Cam Taylor-Britt
Reserves: Jalen Davis, DJ Ivey, DJ Turner, Marco Wilson
Others in the mix: Nate Brooks, Bralyn Lux, Lance Robinson
HILL BY THE NUMBERS
2024 stats: 25 tackles, one tackle for loss, one quarterback hit, two passes defended, 1.0 sack in five games.
PFF grades for 2024: Hill ranked 62nd of 222 cornerbacks in defense grade (68.2), ninth in pass rush grade (81.8), 59th in coverage grade (68.0) and 77th in run defense grade (66.0).
PFF ranking for 2025: Hill is not ranked going into the 2025 season.
NEWTON BY THE NUMBERS
2024 stats: 31 tackles, one tackle for loss, one interception, seven passes defended in 17 games (six starts)
PFF grades for 2024: Newton ranked 116th of 222 cornerbacks in defense grade (60.9), 96th in pass rush grade (54.5), 114th in coverage grade (60.9) and 146th in run defense grade (57.9).
PFF rankings for 2025: Newton was not among the top 32 cornerbacks ranked by PFF.
TAYLOR-BRITT BY THE NUMBERS
2024 stats: 77 tackles, one tackle for loss, three interceptions, 16 passes defended in 17 starts
PFF grades for 2024: Taylor-Britt ranked 96th out of 222 cornerbacks in defense grade (63.6), 33rd in pass rush grade (68.9), 81st in coverage grade (64.3) and 59th in run defense grade (68.4).
PFF ranking for 2025: Taylor-Britt was not among the top 32 cornerbacks ranked by PFF.
TURNER BY THE NUMBERS
2024 stats: 29 tackles, eight passes defended, one tackle for loss in 11 games (six starts)
PFF grades for 2024: Turner ranked 65th of 222 cornerbacks in defense grade (67.8), 55th in coverage grade (68.4) and 150th in run defense (57.1). He did not have a pass rush grade.
PFF ranking for 2025: Turner was not among the top 32 cornerbacks ranked by PFF.
FURTHER ANALYSIS
Cincinnati’s secondary as a whole has much to prove in 2025 after somehow ending up the most stable part of a defense that needed overhauled under new coordinator Al Golden. There is talent in the cornerback room but the regression Taylor-Britt showed last year is a big concern.
PFF’s John Kosko ranked the Bengals secondary 25th in large part because of the lack of changes made to the unit this offseason, and he noted the team’s hopes Golden will spark a big turnaround.
Taylor-Britt finished the season strong, stepping up when the Bengals lost their second starter at the role opposite him, and said this offseason he knows he has to be more consistent to keep his job this year. Turner is good to go after participating throughout the team’s offseason workout program, and Hill is hoping to be cleared by the start of training camp, or at least early in preseason.
But it’s still unclear how quickly the Bengals will push him back and if he’s still an outside cornerback. Hill played slot corner in college when he wasn’t a safety but at this point would prefer to not move positions again, and he looked like the best outside cornerback on the team in his last few games before the injury.
Newton seemed to be getting a lot of the first-choice snaps in the slot this offseason and drew a lot of praise with his energy. Jalen Davis had previously been a guy that had filled in when Hilton wasn’t on the field but didn’t seem to do enough to grab hold of the reigns.
None of the Bengals cornerbacks were ranked among PFF’s top 32 individuals at the position. The Steelers have three of the top 32 corners in the league, including newcomer Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay and Joey Porter, and the Browns (Denzel Ward) and Ravens (Jaire Alexander, Marlon Humphrey) also have players ranked.
Perhaps efforts to address other parts of the defense will have a trickle-down effect on Cincinnati’s cornerback room and Golden will be able to get guys like Taylor-Britt back on track.
