Dolphins’ Waddle addresses Tyreek Hill comparisons: how they measure up. And Tua’s luck
For months, we’ve all heard the comparison: Miami Dolphins rookie receiver Jaylen Waddle is another Tyreek Hill, the speedy Kansas City Chiefs Pro Bowl receiver.
It’s a comparison that’s flattering to Waddle but obviously premature considering Hill’s NFL achievements; he’s a five-time Pro Bowler and three-time first-team All Pro.
A Google search this week produced 53,600 entrees in which the words “Jaylen Waddle” and “Tyreek Hill” appear in the same piece.
“Jaylen Waddle — Tyreek Hill, that’s what this guy is,” former Washington and Houston general manager Charley Casserly said on NFL Network. “He’s going to run by everybody.”
“He can be your Tyreek Hill stretch-the-field type player,” ESPN’s Matt Miller said.
“Waddle is the closest thing to Tyreek Hill we have seen since the Kansas City superstar entered the league,” Pro Football Focus said.
Waddle has “lightning quick, game changing Tyreek Hill quickness in space,” ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit said.
So what does Waddle think of this comparison to an All Pro?
“Yeah, I get a lot of comparisons to Tyreek, just because of my small size and being able to be a runner,” Waddle said.
“But I want to be my own player and try to play the game that I play and try to do my own style and not try to emulate someone else’s style.”
It’s obviously impossible to know if Waddle will become as impactful as Hill, and a comparison of their college careers doesn’t make the projection any easier.
Hill played only one year of major college football (2014 at Oklahoma State) before being dismissed after a domestic violence arrest and transferring to West Alabama.
Hill’s offensive stats at Oklahoma State weren’t a harbinger of the NFL greatness that would follow: 534 yards rushing on 5.2 per carry and 31 catches for 9.1 per reception in 12 games.
But his return stats during his one FBS season suggested something special: a 24.7 average and two touchdowns on 30 kickoff returns and a 9.5 average and one touchdown on 27 punt returns. He then had two more TD returns on punts and two more TD returns on kickoffs — on just 20 punt returns and 20 kickoff returns — at West Alabama.
Waddle, by contrast, averaged 23.8 yards with one touchdown in just nine career kickoff returns and averaged a ridiculous 19.3 yards with two touchdowns on 38 punt returns (far better than Hill’s Oklahoma State numbers).
Waddle’s college reception numbers (106 catches, 18.9 average, 17 receiving TDs in 34 games) were far better than Hill’s, but that obviously doesn’t mean anything in projecting whether Waddle will measure up to Hill, who benefits enormously from playing with Chiefs All Pro quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Hill’s NFL numbers: 368 receptions with a 14.6 average and 47 touchdowns in 74 games; an 11.7 average with four touchdowns on 86 punt returns and 27.4 average on 14 kickoff returns, including a touchdown. He hasn’t returned a kickoff in a regular season game since his rookie season in 2016.
Waddle averaged 9.8 yards after the catch in his career at Alabama, highest among all Power 5 receivers with at least 100 catches since 2014. Hill averaged 4.9 yards after catch last season for the Chiefs, ranking 76th in the league.
Waddle was timed at 4.37 in the 40 yard dash before he even entered Alabama. There’s also a video clip of Waddle in a photo finish race with former Alabama receiver Henry Ruggs, who ran a 4.27 40-yard-dash at last year’s Combine.
Conversely, Hill was timed at 4.29 at West Alabama’s Pro Day.
Herbstreit sees one difference: “I think he has more versatility than Tyreek Hill,” noting Waddle is better equipped to play on the boundary than Hill, in addition to being able to thrive in the slot.
Bottom line: If Waddle is 85 percent of the player Hill turned out to be, the Dolphins should be pleased.
ESPN’s Desmond Howard had the best line in sizing up Waddle, noting “he has that ‘get out of jail free card’ type of athleticism.”
Howard explained it this way:
“Seems like guys have him cornered and he just escapes. Jet sweeps, reverses. He’s such a threat [on everything]. You can line him out wide, too. He runs very good routes, has excellent hands.”
For those concerned about Waddle’s durability, “don’t forget he got hurt [ankle] returning a kickoff” and not as a receiver, Howard said.
THIS AND THAT
▪ Football Outsiders did a study on passes that should have been intercepted in 2020 and weren’t. That analysis determined that Tua Tagovailoa — who threw five interceptions — also threw eight other potential interceptions that were dropped.
Those who threw more dropped potential interceptions: Ben Roethlisberger; Kyler Murray, Nick Foles and Sam Darnold (9 apiece).
Besides Tagovailoa, a few other quarterback also had eight potential interceptions dropped: Matt Ryan, Lamar Jackson and Drew Brees.
All of those quarterbacks threw more passes than Tagovailoa.
Factoring in the number of passes thrown, Football Outsiders portrayed Tagovailoa as one of the luckiest quarterbacks in the league last season.
“The football gods smiled on quarterbacks in Pittsburgh, Arizona, and Miami,” the web site said of Roethlisberger, Murray and Tagovailoa.
You could also make the case that Tagovailoa was unlucky because, as we explained here, he was playing with a supporting cast that ranked among the worst in the league in separation from cornerbacks, broken tackles and yards after catch.
▪ Oregon safety Jevon Holland said “it means a lot” that he’s the highest-drafted player from Canada in NFL history.
“I love to be able to represent the Canadian people,” he said. “And for me to be blessed to be in this position and represent that many people and be the highest taken, I’m just honored to be here. I’m overjoyed.”
When Holland was young, he did 100 push ups a day. Why?
“I think that having those training regimens as a kid put me in a better place of organizing my own time and making sure that I’m holding myself accountable when no one else is trying to check me. I feel like part of being a professional is holding yourself accountable and making sure you’re getting your job done.”
▪ Besides having the second-longest arms in the draft, offensive tackle Larnel Coleman also has an 85-inch wingspan, which he says he uses to his advantage.
“You will definitely see it in my pass-blocking game,” said Coleman, the first of the Dolphins’ two seventh-round picks. “I’ve got to use my arms to keep defenders off my quarterback. You’re definitely going to see me use it in those situations…. Being a UMass guy, I’m a really underrated guy. I think all of my athleticism from prior sports [including basketball] is going to really help me shine.
“I’ve loved basketball since I was a kid... Defensive basketball is the same thing as playing offensive line or at least playing tackle. I feel like a lot of that athleticism is definitely going to translate to the field, and it has been, I think, as you can see on my film. I’m real athletic, so I can do just about everything.”
Here’s my Tuesday Miami Heat piece with more from Pat Riley, including what he says his franchise missed during a pandemic and why he wrote a note to Andre Iguodala.
Here’s my Tuesday Miami Marlins column with Craig Mish with lots of nuggets.
This story was originally published June 8, 2021 at 5:10 PM.
