Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill was on a Hall of Fame track with Chiefs. He’s ‘light years ahead’ now
The Fu Manchu mustache on Tyreek Hill’s face is rather new this season. But just a few days ago, the Dolphins wide receiver ditched the dreadlocks he has worn during the past year for a high-top fade look reminiscent of his days with the Kansas City Chiefs.
As the matchup against the team he spent the first six seasons of his NFL career with looms, is it a coincidence?
“I just had to let K.C. know whenever they see me, it’s going to be problems,” the always bantering Hill said with a smile last Sunday. “It’s Old ‘Reek.’ I’m back. The Cheetah is back.”
On Sunday, the Dolphins will face the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in a showdown of two teams tied for the best record in the AFC. The matchup marks the first time Hill will face his former team since the March 2022 trade that landed him in South Florida.
It’s not necessarily the reunion Hill had in mind. While it’s a Chiefs “home game,” Frankfurt, Germany, will be the site of the game, not Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, as the league broadens its reach overseas with its International Series.
Hill, though, said he’s looking forward to going up against his former teammates for the first time in different colors.
“It doesn’t matter,” Hill said. “It doesn’t really matter where we play. Obviously, it would’ve been great to play in KC, but it really doesn’t matter where we play.”
He then added with a grin: “They are going to get this work wherever though. Y’all can use that. Bulletin board material.”
From 2016 to 2021, Hill — whose blazing speed earned him the nickname “The Cheetah” — was the most dynamic player on a Kansas City team that has made the AFC Championship Game in five consecutive years. However, contract talks with the Chiefs’ front office stalled, opening the idea of a trade to get Hill the contract he desired.
He found that in Miami, where the Dolphins gave up five draft picks to get Hill and then gave him a new contract that at the time made him the highest-paid receiver in the league (four years, $120 million). Hill has said on multiple occasions that his intention was never to leave the Chiefs, who are now the standard in the NFL. On Thursday, he looked back fondly on his time in Kansas City.
“I was able to learn from so many guys,” he said. “I was able to mature so fast because I was able to step into a receiver role, and it was a lot. I kind of took that on and I didn’t look back. The coaching staff trusted me there. I absolutely loved every minute of it. I wouldn’t take none of it back. So yeah, it was fun times definitely just thinking back whenever I was in K.C.”
Hill’s year-plus in Miami, while brief, has been just as noteworthy. He said he’s “kind of glad” the trade occurred, as he was able to live closer to family and achieve his goal of being one of the highest-paid players in the league.
Hill said he was “going to treat this week like it’s any other week.” However, Sunday’s matchup offers a snapshot of the Hall of Fame trajectory he embarked on in Kansas City — and how he has raised his play, helping transform the Dolphins into a championship contender.
In six seasons with the Chiefs, Hill was named to the Pro Bowl six times and to the All-Pro team three times. He eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in four years in Kansas City. But in his first season in Miami, he set career-high marks for catches and yards. And in 2023, he’s on track to make NFL history.
Hill leads the league in receiving yards and last Sunday became the first player in the Super Bowl era to eclipse 1,000 yards in the first eight games of a season. If he maintains this pace, he would set a single-season receiving record and become the first player to record a 2,000-yard season. On Thursday, Hill was named AFC Offensive Player of the Month.
In a league where quarterbacks dominate headlines, Hill has become a national brand and even garnered consideration for the Most Valuable Player award.
“I am light years ahead of where I was back then, and you know what, everything happens for a reason, so here I am today,” Hill said last Sunday.
However, the lengths of Hill’s contributions can’t just be reduced to his catches and touchdowns.
When he first came to Miami, he quickly assumed a leadership role, one that he acknowledged he had to grow into during his time in Kansas City.
“He knew there was a void in leadership we had at that position,” said assistant general manager Marvin Allen, who was a member of the Chiefs organization when Hill was drafted. “He just kind of took it and it permeated through the whole team.”
A two-time captain with the Dolphins, he’s helped shepherd a young wide receivers room and is a player whom coach Mike McDaniel has relied on to set the tone in practices with his relentless energy and effort. Several teammates and coaches have said Hill is the hardest worker they have come across. He’s been the architect behind many of the creative touchdown celebrations the Dolphins have showcased.
The arrival of Hill, along with McDaniel, has been a boon for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa as he has overcome early-career struggles to earn MVP consideration, too. Hill has consistently been a vocal supporter of Tagovailoa, a polarizing figure in NFL circles, from the moment he joined the team.
There are a myriad of contributors who have had a hand in turning around the Dolphins from one of the worst teams in the league to a legitimate contender. Hill, though, has had an outsized role. And in a sense, the team, one of the most exciting squads in the NFL, has taken on the personality of arguably the most electric player in the league.
“I’ve heard people say it and the guys have been joking about it the last week, but the ‘Cheetah Effect,’ that’s what I would say,” Tagovailoa said. “Just because ‘Reek’ exerts so much confidence in everything he does that it’s almost ideal for you to do the same for yourself. The Cheetah Effect could mean many things with Tyreek. But I will say that’s all it is. Like I said, he’s been a great teammate. Not just to me, but to everyone on the team with his leadership the way he carries himself. I think he’s excited, and this team is excited to play the Chiefs on Sunday.”
This story was originally published November 2, 2023 at 4:06 PM.
