How the Bengals might be setting up Dax Hill for a breakout 2023 season

Bengals defensive back Dax Hill should have more breathing room as a safety in 2023. AP

CINCINNATI, Ohio - There's no avoiding the big elephant in the Bengals’ defensive room.

Cincinnati's defense is beefed up in the trenches with the addition of Myles Murphy. Germaine Pratt and Logan Wilson will continue backing up the line for at least another year, and the cornerback room still has a potentially healthy Chidobe Awuzie for Week 1 with the up-and-coming Cam Taylor-Britt by his side.

Which leaves the big question mark: How different will things look at safety?

The short answer is that things will look very different. There's no dancing around the fact that the Bengals lost one of the best safety tandems in the NFL by losing both Jessie Bates III and Vonn Bell in free agency. Rome wasn't built in one day though, and neither was the success that Bates and Bell brought to Cincinnati.

But defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo brought out his beakers this offseason as the mad scientist that he is and produced a master plan that might bring back some light after losing Bell and Bates.

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After signing Nick Scott in free agency and drafting Alabama safety Jordan Battle in the third round, the presumed plan is that former first-round pick Dax Hill will replace Bates at free safety and Scott will replace Bell at strong safety. Battle's role is still unknown but Anarumo confirmed that Battle is strictly a safety.

Anarumo's plan might not only keep the Bengals’ safety room good enough to remain competitive in 2023, but it might even allow for Hill to flex his athletic gifts and talents next season. Content creator and analyst Joe Goodberry, a former contributor to The Athletic and Bleacher Report who hosts "Bengals on the Brain" on YouTube, recently spoke with cleveland.com about the Bengals’ dilemma at safety.

Goodberry said that even Cincinnati's secondary will have a different flavor, but one that should still worry opposing offenses.

"They may be worse, but they’ll definitely be different. I think they’re getting more athletic, faster and I think they’re getting guys who can play multiple positions more often," Goodberry said on the safety room.

Any defensive coordinator, including Anarumo, will take pride in saying that they have interchangeable players who can play different spots. Anarumo can actually say that and back it up with his safety room. That rings true with all three of Cincinnati's safeties.

Hill was brought in to be a free safety but, during his senior year at Michigan in 2021, he ironically played more snaps as a slot corner (580) and up in the box as a strong safety (132) than he did as a free safety (80). Scott played a hefty amount of snaps in the box (232) but also played more snaps as a free safety (635).

Topping off the ironic twist is that Battle played at slot corner, free safety and strong safety in four seasons with the Crimson Tide. Battle consistenly and gradually played more snaps at free safety every year though, playing 575 snaps at that position his senior season.

Why does all of this matter? By using Scott and Battle anywhere across the field, whether that's in coverage, or the box, that allows for Hill to have more free range in the backfield. Better yet, they don't even necessarily have to mark Hill, Scott no Battle with specific labels. For depth chart purposes, they’ll be marked and listed at different safety spots.

Once they hit the field though, titles go out the door. And Goodberry said that's a good thing.

"They don't have to be either or, they don't have to be a ‘free’ or a ‘strong.’ Whoever ends up out there, you can intermix and change them around. I can even see a bunch of scenarios where you’re mixing them all on the field, whether that be together or in a rotation," Goodberry said.

Hill is the youngest, most athletic safety the Bengals have. By utilizing the repertoire of Battle and Scott, that frees up Hill to blossom and bloom just as Bates did when he was in Hill's shoes over four years ago.

Battle's specific on-field role won't be known until Week 1, but does he cover tight ends on third down just as Tre Flowers did last year? Will he be the hard-hitting safety like Bell? Or does Scott take on those same responsibilities but with more legwork?

When Troy Polamalu thrived with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he had Ryan Clark by his side for eight seasons, allowing Polamalu to get loose and making the plays that landed him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Ed Reed had Bernard Pollard in the same role in Baltimore for two seasons among other lesser known names, but Reed was anything but a lesser known name as a Hall of Famer himself.

Saying Hill will be in the Hall of Fame is a far stretch and a wild prediction. But every great safety needs a supporting cast than can do it all, and Hill should have just that for the formidable future in Cincinnati.

Mohammad Ahmad covers the Bengals for cleveland.com. You can follow him on Twitter @MohammadAhmadTV and read all his coverage at StrictlyStripes.com.

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