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Tyreek Hill is a happy dude.I’ll admit, I had my doubts. Hill was leaving Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and a place that surrounds great skill players with more great skill players to keep double teams at bay. There was talk there’d been some friction between him and the Chiefs over the contract, and how he’d been used in the offense. And so I was skeptical—like others—on how leaving a seemingly ideal situation in Kansas City for the Dolphins would work for him.
My doubts, and the doubts of a lot of others, are dissipating.
“Yeah, I’m happy as hell, man,” Hill told me Sunday of his new surroundings in an area where his family has put down roots. “You know why I’m out here? Because obviously I get a chance to play the great game that God blessed me to play, but each and every time I go home, I get a chance to spend time with my kids, my family, and my whole family is happy.”
The football part of the equation’s going O.K., too, I’d say.
Through nine games, Hill has 76 catches, 1,104 yards and three scores. That sets his pace at 144 catches (the NFL record is 149 by Michael Thomas in 2019; Cooper Kupp is second with 145 last year) for 2,085 yards (the NFL record is 1,964 by Calvin Johnson in ’12). Both would, obviously, be career highs and validate Hill’s decision to move on from Kansas City, where he had a hyperproductive, six-year start to his career.
And Sunday brought another example of how Hill might be the league’s most unstoppable skill player. Every team is throwing resources at ways to try to cover him. No one seems to be able to do it. Why? Well, for one, Hill’s play speed is one of a kind. But beyond just that, Hill points at the Shanahan-style scheme that Mike McDaniel brought to Miami.
“He just truly unlocked me to be a true No. 1 receiver,” Hill said. “If I had to choose any answer to pinpoint on what he has done for me in my career, he has truly turned me into a full receiver who really runs the full route tree. So teams really got to respect that. I’m breaking in, I’m breaking out. I’m breaking short, I’m going deep. It’s not a one-dimensional thing, man. So he’s able to put me off the ball, he’s able to put me on the ball, send me in motion, all kinds of gadget things to help me get open. I’m really thankful to just be in this situation.”
All that helped Hill go for another 143 yards on seven catches Sunday, and maybe the best illustration of it actually came on a drive in which the Dolphins score. It was at the end of the first half, as Miami tried to answer Justin Fields’s touchdown pass to Darnell Mooney, which cut the Dolphins’ lead to 21–17. Tagovailoa had the Dolphins in third-and-6 from their own 43 with an even minute left before halftime.
“I came down in motion between Trent [Sherfield] and Mike [Gesicki]—came in motion, Trent released and I kind of hesitated the corner and it was one-on-one,” Hill explained. “So, man, it was a safety over the top, but the safety had to respect Trent on the in-breaking route, which gave me time to take my time, allow the safety to get eyes on Trent. And then I was able to roll up the sideline, like the play design is crazy, man.”
And just like that Hill was free for 39 yards.
That got the Dolphins in field goal range, and though they missed the kick, it was a good display of just how Hill can generate offense to potentially put points on the scoreboard. That happened again on the drive to put Chicago away. He had catches of 20 and 18 yards, the latter to convert a third-and-7, to set up Tagovailoa’s final touchdown pass to newcomer Jeff Wilson Jr. to make it 35–25 with 6:02 left in the third quarter.
A couple of hours later, he, Jaylen Waddle, Tagovailoa, Gesicki and the rest of a suddenly vibrant offense boarded the plane with the rest of the team for the flight back to South Florida. The Dolphins are 6–3. The mix here among McDaniel, his coaches and the locker room is working. “He’s like our young uncle,” Hill said of the Dolphins’ coach. “He’s cool, relaxed, but he knows when to turn it on, when it’s go time.”
The front office showed its belief last week with moves to acquire Wilson and Bradley Chubb. And in the background, from Hill’s phone, you could actually hear how it’s all come together.
“For this whole team, I’m looking at the guys right now, I’m on the plane and I’m just seeing how well all the guys get along,” he said. “There’s not a moment in our locker room where you see an individual player sitting alone or not talking to somebody, whether it’s about football or whether it’s about life. And to me, that’s why we all really get into sports, just to have that brotherhood, just to have that camaraderie with each other, man. Because that really is what builds true championship teams. So for me, everything was already here.”
It sure looks that way—even if I may not have predicted it like this a few months back.
