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<\/p>\nFree agent cornerback Mike Hilton is coming off a productive – and most importantly, reliable – four-year, $24 million with the Cincinnati Bengals.<\/p>\n
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In the Dallas Cowboys’ 7-10 season a year ago, injuries were insurmountable on the defense. While most ailing position groups were addressed with reinforcements this offseason, one unit is still left uncertain.<\/p>\n
The secondary saw injuries and missed time to DaRon Bland, Trevon Diggs, Caelen Carson, Markquese Bell, Josh Butler, Amani Oruwariye and Juanyeh Thomas in 2024.<\/p>\n
In the NFL Draft, Dallas drafted an exciting prospect in cornerback Shavon Revel Jr. from East Carolina … but he is also recovering from ACL surgery and is limited in OTA practices.<\/p>\n
Did the Pacers Just Pull Off the Greatest Playoff Comeback EVER?Did the Pacers Just Pull Off the Greatest Playoff Comeback EVER?<\/strong><\/p>\n This has made Bleacher Report suggest the idea of Dallas pursuing a veteran cornerback still available in free agency who could mitigate this unreliability in health.<\/p>\n Mike Hilton is a name that could fit a lot of what the Cowboys are looking for.<\/p>\n “Despite his production as one of the league’s top slot cornerbacks, Mike Hilton remains available,” Moe Moton wrote. “At that position, he’s an above-average cover defender, allowing a career 82 passer rating, and has recently been a consistent playmaker in run support, recording 12 tackles for loss in 2023 and 2024.”<\/em><\/p>\n Hilton, who has only missed four games in the last four years, solves more than just Dallas’ availability concerns.<\/p>\n Losing Jourdan Lewis in free agency opens a void in the slot cornerback position, but Hilton could slide in nicely and be just as serviceable.<\/p>\n Rather impressively, Hilton has remained durable with age. He just turned 31, but the eight-year vet has played at least 70% of the Bengals’ defensive snaps over the last four seasons. His 75.9 overall coverage grade by Pro Football Focus ranked 24th of all eligible cornerbacks.<\/p>\n Hilton turned into a star with the Pittsburgh Steelers before signing with Cincinnati in free agency on a four-year, $24 million contract in 2021. Since then, he has totaled 283 tackles, six interceptions and 24 pass break-ups.<\/p>\n As we are pretty late into the offseason, the Cowboys are running out of time to add any last pieces to the roster. The front office will likely stretch the free-agent scanning process until they get a clear word on the recovery timeline of their current players.<\/p>\n Hilton, however, is one of only a few remaining free agents who can check both availability and productivity boxes. He should be worth considering for depth and veteran experience in the Cowboys secondary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Free agent cornerback Mike Hilton is coming off a productive – and most importantly, reliable – four-year, $24 million with the Cincinnati Bengals. In the Dallas Cowboys’… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n