Hill played in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions, and Los Angeles Raiders.
He accepted a scholarship to the University of Iowa, where as a wide receiver, he felt he had few opportunities to prove his worth in the team's run-oriented offense.
[2] After private workouts with defensive assistant coach Gene Stallings and being rated very high for his athletic abilities, the Dallas Cowboys selected Hill in the first round (25th overall) of the 1982 NFL draft.
Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he was replaced with Monty Hunter, after he missed a tackle that allowed Gordon Jones to have a 49-yard touchdown reception, for a 17-16 third quarter lead.
The next game was his finest moment as a Cowboy, besides playing a key role as the nickel cornerback on passing downs in a 37-26 victory against the Green Bay Packers, in the third quarter he returned a kickoff 89 yards (tied for second in NFL playoff history), which led to a key field goal and in the fourth quarter he also blocked a Jan Stenerud conversion kick.
Conversely, in the Washington Redskins playoff game, his goal line muffed punt contributed to the team loss.
Eventually his teammates also started to turn on him,[5] so the Cowboys traded him to the Buffalo Bills in the 1984 offseason, in exchange for a fifth round draft choice (#119-Matt Darwin) in 1985, plus a sixth (#140-Thornton Chandler) and a twelfth selection (#307-Chris Duliban) in 1986.
Hill was signed to be a part of the Los Angeles Raiders replacement team, that was given the mock name "Masqueraiders" by the media.