Cheetah to Miami: Dolphins trade for Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill, making him highest-paid receiver
READ MORE
Miami Dolphins trade for Kansas City Chiefs star Tyreek Hill
The Dolphins have traded for Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro wide receiver Tyreek Hill, making him the highest-paid receiver in NFL history. The blockbuster deal includes five draft picks.
Expand All
Less than 24 hours after landing arguably the top free agent available, the Dolphins have struck again.
The Dolphins have traded for Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro wide receiver Tyreek Hill, pending a physical, the team announced Wednesday, and are set to make him the highest-paid receiver in NFL history in a blockbuster deal that includes five draft picks.
The team is sending Kansas City its No. 29 and No. 50 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, along with a fourth-round pick and fourth- and sixth-round picks in 2023. Hill’s new extension is a four-year, $120 million deal through the 2026 season that includes $72.2 million guaranteed.
However, the final year of the deal includes a $43.9 million base salary and $50 million cap hit that would likely be reduced by a restructuring in future years.
The Dolphins were reportedly battling the New York Jets for Hill’s services after extension talks between him and the Chiefs stalled. Both teams had trade packages in place for Hill.
The Chiefs offered Hill, 28, a deal that would make him one of the highest-paid receivers in the NFL but after talks broke down, they gave Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, permission to seek a trade.
Rosenhaus, who is based in South Florida, has a long history with the Dolphins and has negotiated multiple deals between his clients and the organization in the past week, such as running back Chase Edmonds, linebackers Duke Riley and Elandon Roberts and safety Sheldrick Redwine. Hill also owns a home in Florida.
In average annual salary, Hill’s new contract surpasses All-Pro receiver Davante Adams, who last week was traded from the Green Bay Packers to the Las Vegas Raiders for the No. 22 and No. 53 picks in the 2022 Draft and then received a five-year, $141.25 million contract, averaging $28.25 million a season.
The Dolphins and Jets were two teams stocked with the draft capital to pull off a trade such as this. New York has the No. 4 and No. 10 overall pick in next month’s draft, as well as four selections in the top 38 picks. The Jets reportedly did not include either of their first-rounders in a trade package but included the No. 35 and No. 38 picks.
While the Dolphins gave up their top two picks in 2022, they retained their two first-round picks in 2023. The team still has a third-round pick (No. 102), a fourth-rounder, fifth-rounder (No. 158) and two seventh-rounders (No. 224, 227) in the 2022 Draft.
Hill, a six-time Pro Bowler and three-time first-team All-Pro selection, is one of the fastest players in the NFL — his “cheetah” Twitter handle is a nod to his game-breaking speed — and has been one of the most productive receivers playing with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense. Hill, 5-10 and 185 pounds, caught 111 passes for 1,239 yards and nine touchdowns in 2021. Since entering the league in 2016, Hill has recorded 7,349 scrimmage yards and 62 touchdowns. He’s also been a dynamic returner throughout his career, with four touchdowns on punt returns and kick returns, though Kansas City has seldom used him on special teams in recent seasons.
Dolphins assistant general manager Marvin Allen was Chiefs director of college scouting from 2013 to 2017, overlapping with Hill, who was drafted in the fifth round of the 2016 Draft.
Trading for Hill is the latest splash move in an offseason that has been devoted to rebuilding the Dolphins offense around quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who is entering a critical third season and his first with new coach Mike McDaniel. The Dolphins are signing three-time Pro Bowl left tackle Terron Armstead to a five-year, $75 million deal, upgrading an offensive line that was one of the league’s worst this past season. Eight of the team’s nine outside free agent signings have come on offense and the team retained tight end Mike Gesicki with the one-year franchise tag.
Hill is now the crown jewel of the Dolphins’ offseason, pairing with Jaylen Waddle, who garnered comparisons to Hill coming out of college, to give Tagovailoa arguably the league’s fastest wide receiver duo amid the recent arms race in the AFC.
Speed is a trait that has been coveted by McDaniel. Since Hill entered the league, his 19 touchdowns of 50 or more yards are the most in the NFL. Hill’s 28 deep receiving touchdowns — defined as scores on passes that travel at least 20 air yards — since 2016 are six more than the next closest receiver, Antonio Brown. New running backs Edmonds and Raheem Mostert have also reached some of the fastest speeds in the NFL in recent years.
“[McDaniel] is an exciting guy. Obviously he loves speed,” cornerback Keion Crossen said Monday. “I think that’s one thing he mentioned to me for sure.”
Acquiring Hill and giving him a contract in line with one of the highest-paid receivers will likely have to come with some cap maneuvering. The Dolphins entered Wednesday with just $3.5 million in cap space, according to the NFL Players Association’s public salary cap report, and that does not account for Armstead’s deal. Hill’s new deal comes with a cap hit of $6 million in 2022, which should allow the Dolphins to make additional moves.
General manager Chris Grier said at the NFL Scouting Combine last month that the team would also revisit cornerback Xavien Howard’s contract in hopes of working out a restructured deal. A new contract would likely place Howard atop the highest-paid cornerbacks again but could free up more cap space in the immediate future. There are also several players who could be cut for cap savings with little to no dead money.
The Dolphins’ latest move to improve their roster shows the financial side won’t be an impediment, though.
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 11:27 AM.
.JPG)
