{"id":184584,"date":"2025-07-06T00:06:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T00:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/184584\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T00:06:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T00:06:17","slug":"bengals-passed-over-as-top-spot-for-their-best-remaining-free-agent-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/184584\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals passed over as top spot for their best remaining free agent"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the heels of examining whether the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> should still bring back veteran cornerback Mike Hilton<\/a>, he\u2019s now popped up on a best left free agents list.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hilton, 31, is still one of the top free agents left on the market, but age and perhaps a very specific usage in the secondary keep him there for the time being.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bleacher Report\u2019s Matt Holder<\/a> tabbed the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>, Dallas Cowboys<\/a> and San Francisco 49ers<\/a> as the best remaining fits for Hilton while writing the following:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe former Pittsburgh Steeler and Cincinnati Bengal has developed a reputation as a disruptor in the running game. He’s racked up 66 career tackles for loss, including 12 in each of the last two seasons. On top of that, he\u2019s produced solid or better run-defense grades from Pro Football Focus for six campaigns, topping out at a career high 91.7 in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: Cincinnati Bengals’ 53-man roster projection following 2025 offseason<\/a><\/p>\n

One has to wonder if the Bengals<\/a> still aren\u2019t one of the best landing spots still, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the Bengals have embraced a youth movement on defense around coordinator Al Golden, surely the team would welcome back Hilton in a depth and leadership role. More veterans who can lead the way for Cam Taylor-Britt, Dax Hill, DJ Turner and Josh Newton must appeal to the team at some level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even so, the Bengals have to want a reunion. Hilton has to want it and see that the market won\u2019t give him more playing time, too. But for Bengals fans fond of the Hilton era that helped get the team to a Super Bowl, getting him back would be a sweet moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: Joe Burrow feelings on Trey Hendrickson contract standoff revealed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the heels of examining whether the Cincinnati Bengals should still bring back veteran cornerback Mike Hilton, he\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[220,2338,2345,247,265,228,1574,227,256,2296,230,229,257,7,219,2339,2341,10343,20842,1573,1577,523,393,1458,10348,88,6,35196,245,537,520,57,530,525,218,252,9,266,426,2340,1503,524],"class_list":{"0":"post-184584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-al","10":"tag-al-golden","11":"tag-american","12":"tag-american-football","13":"tag-bengals","14":"tag-burrow","15":"tag-cincinnati","16":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","17":"tag-cincinnatibengals","18":"tag-cowboys","19":"tag-dallas","20":"tag-dallas-cowboys","21":"tag-football","22":"tag-francisco","23":"tag-golden","24":"tag-hendrickson","25":"tag-hilton","26":"tag-hub","27":"tag-joe","28":"tag-joe-burrow","29":"tag-las","30":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","31":"tag-mike","32":"tag-mike-hilton","33":"tag-news","34":"tag-nfl","35":"tag-nfl-hub","36":"tag-overall","37":"tag-overall-positive","38":"tag-pittsburgh","39":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","40":"tag-positive","41":"tag-raiders","42":"tag-san","43":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","44":"tag-sports","45":"tag-sports-news","46":"tag-steelers","47":"tag-trey","48":"tag-trey-hendrickson","49":"tag-vegas"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}