Both are potential extension candidates this offseason, as Turner, a 2023 second-round draft pick, heads into the final season of his rookie deal and Hill, a 2022 first-round draft pick, is set to play on a fifth-year option the team picked up last April.
“I think both of them would be guys that we would (extend),” Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said. “What they showed this year is that they’re pretty high-level cover corners. They have the skill set that we thought they had. They’ve developed the way that we thought they would develop. ... Those guys (on defense) were fortunate to have them, and those are guys to build around.”
Turner said he and his agent would love to have that conversation with the Bengals.
He believes he proved himself worthy.
“Everything I’ve gotten here, I’ve earned it, and as a culture, that’s what you want and I’m just trying to bring everyone along with me from the season I’ve had, from the growth I’ve had, and let everyone in on what I’ve done to help out and improve on the game,” Turner said.
Turner showed promise as a rookie in 2023 when he had opportunities to start because of injury to since-departed Chidobe Awuzie, but he seemed to hit a wall by the end of the year. After a slow start in 2024, things were starting to click when he tore his clavicle in Week 11 to end his season.
Then, training camp last summer went about as poorly as it could have for Turner, but that didn’t carry over into the season. He had what he thought was a Pro Bowl-worthy campaign but finished as a third alternate at cornerback.
Teammates like Joe Burrow and Orlando Brown Jr. assured him an alternate nod usually leads to getting in the next year. His performance might not have been quite enough this year, but it should be enough to secure his starting job for 2026 and at least lead to conversations about the extension.
“It was great, just doing what I always believed in myself in doing and just putting it on film now, that’s really the biggest thing,” Turner said. “As I mentioned, I always believed I could do it, and so it’s documented now, and it’s just good to wrap the season around that.”
Turner said he tapped into the mental side of the game more this year, and it helped having an established routine he had developed over his first two seasons. Now he has that fine-tuned to the point he didn’t plan to travel anywhere during the offseason so he could stick to it and be ready for an even better season in 2026.
Playing opposite of Hill also felt natural, Turner said. The two have known each other since they were being recruited by Michigan in high school, and they both reported the same day. Hill just came out for the draft a year earlier.
After moving from free safety to outside corner to slot corner and back to outside during his first four seasons, Hill entered this offseason with continuity for the first time in his NFL career. He had done well at outside corner in 2024, making the switch from safety, but only had five games before his season ended with an ACL tear.
The Bengals decided to move him to slot corner in his return this season, believing that was the best way to get the three best corners — Cam Taylor-Britt, Turner and Hill — on the field at the same time and replace departed nickel Mike Hilton. However, Taylor-Britt’s struggles, and later a season-ending foot injury, necessitated the move back outside for Hill, and he thrived there in Weeks 11 through 18.
“I think I’ve put myself in a good position the last few weeks (of the season), and the confidence has risen since I’ve been out there,” Hill said when asked if he thinks he’s locked down the starting position for 2026.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor said Hill proved this year that outside corner is his best spot.
Hill thought he was on track to doing that in 2024 before his injury, so it felt comfortable moving back in the second half of this season. Even when he played slot to start the year, he still was kicking outside in base defense, so once he was able to lock in on the outside corner spot, that is when he felt he was able to excel. Over the last seven games, he registered a 78.9 Pro Football Focus grade, the 16th-best mark of any NFL cornerback.
Hill said it’s encouraging to know Taylor sees him as an outside corner now.
“I feel like going into the offseason I can definitely just focus solely on that,” Hill said. “That’s an important thing. The offseason is the time to separate yourself, and the last couple offseasons have been frustrating because I would be in a different position, so really just knowing exactly how to approach an offseason (makes a difference).”
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