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.
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.
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.
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.
Mike Hilton is a name that could fit a lot of what the Cowboys are looking for.
“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.”
Hilton, who has only missed four games in the last four years, solves more than just Dallas’ availability concerns.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
