'He can do it all': Why ESPN analysts believe Daxton Hill is one of the most 'underrated' players in the 2022 NFL Draft
In his latest two-round mock draft, ESPN expert Todd McShay pegged Michigan safety Daxton Hill to the Detroit Lions in the second round at No. 34 overall.
The Lions pick at No. 32, the last selection of the first round, as well. McShay has Detroit taking Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder at that spot. The decision didn’t come without much thought, though, and some flip-flopping back and forth, he said on ESPN’s First Draft podcast with Mel Kiper Jr. and others.
“I actually swapped it out initially,” McShay said. “I had [Hill] going 34 to the Detroit Lions, who pick at 32, remember, and then 34. I wanted Dax Hill, the safety from Michigan, to be in the first round. I think he’s a first-round player; I just couldn’t find the right spot for a safety late in the first.
“So I went with Hill to the Lions [at 34], who have a safety need. They didn’t go safety, they went edge rusher with the No. 2 overall pick, so I went with Dax Hill at 32. And then I said, you know what, if they’re going to draft a quarterback, why not get that fifth-year option. If you go Desmond Ridder, you’re going to want five years, not four. If you draft a guy in the first round, you get that fifth-year option. So I flipped them, because at 33 the Jaguars went with a cornerback in Kyler Gordon from Washington. That was what happened inside my house, and I wound up making that flip flop.”
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McShay isn’t alone in being torn on exactly where Hill will be picked. Experts are about split on whether he’ll be in the first round or early in the second. There aren’t usually a lot of safeties who are picked up early in the draft, and Notre Dame‘s Kyle Hamilton has a good shot of going in the top 10 (McShay has him at No. 7 to the New York Giants). But the second off the board would be Hill, and Kiper agrees.
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“The guy that you flipped, Daxton Hill, I think he’s the 13th-best player [in the draft class],” Kiper said of the former Michigan standout. “You go back to grades and film, he’s a slot corner. You can make an argument he’s one of the best slot corners. The way he gets after the quarterback, his anticipation … he can do it all. He’s so versatile, he tackles well, he’s impactful in so many ways.
“Daxton Hill is a highly-rated guy, a five-star coming out of high school, [Baltimore Ravens running back] Justice Hill’s brother, all those things. Daxton Hill, when you look at the best five defensive backs in this draft, you say, OK, we’ve got [Cincinnati corner] Sauce Gardner and Kyle Hamilton — that’s two. Then if we want to go to [LSU cornerback] Derrick Stingley Jr. at three, and then do we go [Washington corner] Trent McDuffie, say four. Then you’ve got to go Daxton Hill, and you can make an argument Daxton Hill should be in there at four.”
As Kiper said, Hill can do many different things on the football field, and teams don’t have to just play him at safety. Michigan primarily used him as a nickel last season. He blitzed, notching eight pressures, per Pro Football Focus, guarded slots and wideouts, with two interceptions, played in the box and sat back as a traditional safety.
“At safety, there are some guys that after the first five or six you’re a little iffy on,” Kiper continued. “Like we said, he’s a guy that could be a slot corner. I think Daxton Hill could be one of the most underrated defensive players in this draft.”
