{"id":50294,"date":"2025-05-22T08:46:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T08:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=50294"},"modified":"2025-05-22T08:46:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T08:46:35","slug":"cowboys-urged-to-sign-24-million-free-agent-cb-from-afc-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=50294","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys Urged to Sign $24 Million Free Agent CB From AFC North"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1428883323-e1747858952436.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1428883323-e1747858952436.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1428883323-e1747858952436.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1428883323-e1747858952436.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Mike Hlton\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-dom-ready-time=\"724\" data-img-load-time=\"1451\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton (No. 21).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Right now, the top 3 cornerbacks on the roster for the\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0all have major injury issues which kept them out for extended periods of time last season.<\/p>\n<p>NFL All-Pro cornerback\u00a0Trevon Diggs\u00a0is coming off his second ACL tear in 3 seasons and missed 6 games. NFL All-Pro\u00a0Daron Bland\u00a0missed 10 games with a stress fracture in his foot. Rookie\u00a0Shavon Revel\u00a0is coming off an ACL tear at East Carolina in September 2024 that cost him the final 10 games of his college career.<\/p>\n<p>While those 3 might have as much talent as any group of cornerbacks in the NFL when healthy, the odds of all 3 being healthy at the same time seems increasingly remote. That\u2019s why\u00a0Bleacher Report\u2019s Moe Moton\u00a0thinks free agent\u00a0Mike Hilton might be the solution for the Cowboys to add depth at the position.<\/p>\n<div id=\"id\/article\/slide\/5197468\/element\/0\" class=\"MuiBox-root css-6emr8c\">\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">\u201cDespite his production as one of the league\u2019s top slot cornerbacks, Mike Hilton remains available,\u201d Moton wrote on May 21. \u201cAt that position, he\u2019s 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 turned 31 in March. Teams have shown they are hesitant to invest in older slot cornerbacks. However, the eight-year veteran hasn\u2019t shown any decline entering his ninth year.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-content entry-content\">\n<div id=\"id\/article\/slide\/5197468\/element\/0\" class=\"MuiBox-root css-6emr8c\">\n<h2>Undersized but Might Undrafted Free Agent<\/h2>\n<p>Hilton was a star defensive back who played both safety and cornerback at Ole Miss and was an All-SEC pick in 2015. His pre-draft measurables \u2014 5-foot-8 and 178 pounds \u2014 kept him off the draft boards of NFL teams.<\/p>\n<p>Hilton signed with the\u00a0Jacksonville Jaguars\u00a0as an undrafted free agent and was cut by the Jaguars in the preseason then by the\u00a0New England Patriots\u00a0before spending the rest of the season with the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0on the practice squad.<\/p>\n<p>Hilton became a key member of the Steelers\u2019 defense over the next 4 seasons, playing in 59 games with 20 starts and 7 interceptions. Hilton\u2019s career high 3 interceptions in 2020 led to a 4-year, $24 million free agent contract with the\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals,\u00a0 where he had 66 tackles, 8 TFL, 5 pass deflections, 2 interceptions and 1 interception return for a touchdown in 2021 as the Bengals made it to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1988 season.<\/p>\n<p>In 4 seasons with the Bengals from 2021 to 2024, Hilton missed just 4 games and had 7 interceptions. He started a career high 13 games in 2023 and started 10 games in 2024.<\/p>\n<h2>Cowboys Have Complicated Future at Cornerback<\/h2>\n<p>The Cowboys don\u2019t have a\u00a0clear path forward at cornerback\u00a0past 2025, and that\u2019s mostly tied to finances.<\/p>\n<p>For starters,\u00a0Diggs has a terrible contract. He signed a 5-year, $97 million contract extension in March 2023 that runs through 2028. It\u2019s not clear if he\u2019ll ever be an elite NFL cornerback again, although he\u2019ll be paid like one as long as he\u2019s on the Cowboys.<\/p>\n<p>Bland is in a contract year\u00a0and could be headed toward the payday of a lifetime.<\/p>\n<p>Spotrac projects his market value in the neighborhood of a\u00a04-year, $94.2 million free agent contract. That would put Bland among the\u00a0Top 5 highest paid cornerbacks in the NFL at approximately $23.7 million per season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton (No. 21). Right now, the top 3 cornerbacks on the roster for the\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0all have major injury issues which kept them&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cowboys Urged to Sign $24 Million Free Agent CB From AFC North - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=50294\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cowboys Urged to Sign $24 Million Free Agent CB From AFC North - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton (No. 21). 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