It’s been over a year since the Kansas City Chiefs traded wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins for a package of five draft picks, including Miami’s first-round selection in 2022.
Since then, Hill has rewritten the Dolphins’ record books, as he’s recorded 180 receptions for 2,724 yards and 15 touchdowns in just 25 games in aqua and orange.
At this point, the 29-year-old is on pace to become the first player in NFL history to reach 2,000 receiving yards in a single season, and if he does that, he’ll surely be in the conversation to be the first wideout named the league’s MVP.
Hill is set to face his former team for the first time, and it’s an opportunity he’s ready for.
“Yeah, I’m excited,” Hill said on his podcast this week. “A lot of people have been asking me, ‘Are you going to be emotional?’ I said, “Man, to me, there’s no emotions in sports.’ I love those guys. I love them to death. I have so much respect for Coach Reid. I’m looking forward to seeing a bunch of familiar faces. It’s going to be a fun game. You have two 6-2 teams going for the No. 1 seed in the AFC, and it’s going to be a battle. They have dawgs on defense, and obviously, they have dawgs on the offensive side of the ball. But, my main concern is just pancaking Chris Jones this game. I’m going to pancake Chris Jones. I’m calling my shot.”
It’s not surprising that he’s taking a little jab at Jones, as the two have playfully gone back and forth on social media since Hill’s departure from Kansas City.
While this game doesn’t bring some extra juice for many, the wide receiver is going to go about his business.
“I take every game the same way,” Hill said. “My mindset is to always be the best. My mindset is to always help this team win. I’m not going to do anything crazy or outlandish because I feel like that’d be foolish, trying to overcompensate or doing things that I haven’t been doing all season. Obviously, when I get the ball in my hands, I may try to be extra and try to get in the end zone a little bit more, but when it comes to trying to do anything extra-curricular or anything? Nah. Because I feel like I still have a ton of relationships over there, with most of the guys… I still have relationships over there, and at the end of the day, the NFL is still the brotherhood. I still love them.”
Looking back on the trade, and the nearly two years since, Hill has found happiness and peace.
“I’m kind of glad it happened now,” Hill told the media on Thursday. “I don’t even think about it now. Obviously, the situation that I’m in is great. I’ve got great teammates. My family is from Miami. Also, I accomplished one of my goals of being one of the highest-paid (players) in the league. Everything is great, life is great. Never can take anything for granted. You can’t look back, always have to look forward. That’s my mindset.”
Would he have rather played this game at Arrowhead, surrounded by Chiefs Kingdom, than in Frankfurt, Germany?
“It doesn’t matter,” Hill said. “It doesn’t really matter where we play at. Obviously it would’ve been great to play in KC, but it really doesn’t matter where we play at. They are going to get this work wherever, though. Y’all can use that. Bulletin board material.”
Hopefully, Hill and the Dolphins can back up that talk and put to bed the narrative that they can’t beat good teams. If they do so, they’ll be considered Super Bowl contenders by the rest of the football world.
