One look at the Cincinnati Bengals current safety and cornerback rooms features a consistent theme — speed.
No joke, across the board, it’s all 4.4s and 4.3s and eye-popping agility numbers, be it a straight-up sprint or short-burst numbers.
Veterans Chidobe Awuzie and Mike Hilton have some speed. So does new veteran safety Nick Scott. Youngers Dax Hill and Cam Taylor-Britt are outright blazers too.
Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com detailed some of the on-field proof recorded last year during live action:
Hill’s Next Gen Stat high of last season was clocked at 21.8 while Taylor-Britt was at 20.8, the same as Bates. Awuzie hit 21.7 before he was lost for the season with a torn ACL and Scott went as high as 21.2 for the Rams.
Part of the appeal with Hill in the first round last year was the stunning athleticism that projected him to have similar range as Bates.
And Scott? The new free-agent arrival is droves more athletic than Vonn Bell.
This offseason, the Bengals have managed to get even more athletic in the defensive secondary, the idea being interchangeable parts that can cover broad ranges of field, allowing Lou Anarumo’s complex scheme to adapt to any opponent it encounters.
