If you’ve been following the NFL Mock Draft season, you’ve probably noticed several projections with the Cincinnati Bengals going with cornerback Jermod McCoy at pick No. 10.
While McCoy has the potential to be a great NFL player, cornerback is not a need for the Bengals in 2026.
And frankly, it doesn’t have to be a need anytime soon if the Bengals get contract extensions done with Dax Hill and DJ Turner, both of whom are entering the final years of their rookie deals.
Sign both, and there’s no need to take a cornerback in the first two rounds of a draft anytime soon, and that’s especially true with a top-10 selection that could be used to address an immediate need.
I think the Bengals will prioritize getting a deal done with Turner since there’s more good tape of him playing boundary cornerback, where he’s been since being a second-round draft pick in 2023.
Hill, however, has been a bit of an enigma since being a first-round pick in 2022, largely due to playing three different positions. After starting off his career at safety, it went so badly that the Bengals moved him to boundary cornerback for the 2024 season. While he had a decent showing there, Hill suffered a season-ending ACL tear in Week 5.
Thankfully, Hill would recover and play in every game this past season. However, it got off to a rocky start after he began the year as a slot cornerback, a role he primarily played for the first nine games. But once he moved to the boundary full-time, that’s when Hill really started to shine.
From Weeks 11-18, Hill primarily played on the boundary and registered a 78.9 Pro Football Focus grade during that span, the 16th-best mark of any NFL cornerback.
And we all know how great Turner is, as he had a year worthy of a Pro Bowl selection. We already know the Bengals are working to extend both corners, but it is unlikely a deal will be reached anytime soon. These types of extensions aren’t normally done until training camp or the preseason when it comes to the Bengals.
If the Bengals spend a first or second-round pick on a cornerback in this year’s draft, it likely signals that one of Hill/Turner will be elsewhere in 2027. The Bengals are better off getting both deals done and spending their picks on positions of immediate need.
