Cornerback Marco Wilson, coach's son, not only knows how to be coached hard, he likes it, and that's a big reason he decided to stay with the Bengals rather than hit free agency.

Wilson signed a one-year deal Wednesday, and in a way it capped off the first portion of Bengals' free agency. They devoted it largely to keeping their own: When Wilson showed well down the stretch after they picked him off waivers in November, they put him on the retain list with tight end Mike Gesicki, defensive tackle B.J. Hill, offensive lineman Cody Ford and edge Joseph Ossai.

It also shored up what is their deepest position on defense.

"They gave me an opportunity when I was down bad," Wilson said. "I respect the Bengals so much taking me off waivers. That's a risk at times, but they took me off waivers and threw me in the fire and I respect that. I love it here. I want to go hard for the city and coaches and players, everybody."

Wilson's father, Chad Wilson, who coached him in high school in the Miami area with NFL Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II, also runs About All Eyes, a camp for high school, college and pro defensive backs.

A California prep star who played for Pro Football Hall of Fame coach George Allen at Long Beach State, Chad Wilson ended his career at the University of Miami. When he didn't make it through an NFL training camp, he made sure sons Marco and Quincy did with a combined 93 NFL games, and Marco has found Bengals cornerbacks coach Charles Burks’ style familiar.

"He's one of the best defensive backs coaches I've had in a while. He reminds of all the great ones I've had, like my father," Marco Wilson said. "These guys know their players and they know how to teach their players to be in the best situation to make plays. They don't let you slide under the line."

In Wilson, who just turned 26 last week, the Bengals added to an area of strength with another young cornerback bringing a bunch of experience with 60 NFL games. Burks wasted no time using Wilson's speed during the course of his 36 scrimmage snaps.

"Marco is a guy who can wake up at 5:30 and go cover man-to-man," Burks says. "I would never turn down anybody who can play man-to-man. Any day of the week. Every day. He was covering top receivers and did well. That's good production."

Wilson found himself matched up on some of the league's most dangerous receivers. He played a dozen snaps in the win in Dallas, five snaps in the win in Tennessee and eight in the win over the Browns while defending their best receivers.

He held the Titans' Calvin Ridley to a catch for 14 yards. He held the Browns' Jerry Jeudy to two catches for 20 yards when Jeudy came into the matchup with more receiving yards than Ja’Marr Chase in the previous month. He gave up a 13-yard catch to CeeDee Lamb against the Cowboys, but he also defensed passes to the veteran Brandin Cooks and speedster KaVontae Turpin.

Wilson returns to a room where last year's top five contributors (Dax Hill, Cam Taylor-Britt, DJ Turner II, Josh Newton and DJ Ivey) are 25 and younger with a combined 140 games.

"It's a young room. And the exciting part is it's a young room with experience," Burks says. "They're guys who have had really good moments and they can learn from the not so good moments. They're battle-tested. That's why I think coming into OTAs we're in good shape because they know what they have to do to get better."