‘I get to embarrass him every day.’ Tyreek Hill’s playful response to Dolphins signing Eli Apple
In the five training camp practices since the Dolphins signed cornerback Eli Apple, there haven’t been any explosive moments with wide receiver Tyreek Hill.
The semi-anticipated matchup because of their prior on-field and online spats has not materialized in team drills. And Hill, speaking Friday for the first time since the signing, downplayed any rift between the new teammates.
“I was like, ‘Nah, I ain’t got no problem with that. Why would I have a problem with that,’” Hill recounted when coach Mike McDaniel called to inform him about the transaction. “So, I just feel like a lot of people, they just get fed into what’s going on in social media, and that’s not really what it is. I was fired up for us to be able to add another competitor to this team. Because that’s going to make us better in the long run, having that cornerback depth.”
He then tried to hide a grin as he said: “Eli, he’s a great guy. I know we had some battles but at the end of the day, man, we’re all trying to win. We’re trying to get better. Now, my looking from it is: Now, I get to embarrass him every day.”
Hill said he hasn’t been able to have many reps against Apple because the team’s other corners, including Xavien Howard, Kader Kohou and Noah Igbinoghene, are “calling me out every day.”
But he furthered the joke by saying that when he matches up with Apple, he’s going to try to “bully him off the line. I’m going to try something different. I’m going to try to push him off the line. I’m going to win the rep.”
By all accounts, Hill has been a gracious teammate to Apple.
“He was telling me about the guys on the defense,” Apple said after his first practice, “and catching me up and introducing me to the coaches I hadn’t met yet. It was cool, it was a great introduction.”
