Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill dropped the first episode of his new podcast, “It Needed to be Said” on Friday.
The wideout, his co-host/lawyer Julius Collins and agent Drew Rosenhaus spoke on a number of topics from Hill’s beginnings to the first couple of months with the Dolphins.
What many people wanted to know was why Hill wanted to leave the Kansas City Chiefs after such a run of success, and the trio talked about that very subject.
“There was a lot of times during the year that we felt that Tyreek was underutilized and wasn’t fully appreciated and that they really weren’t taking full advantage of all his ability and talent,” Rosenhaus said. “Tyreek’s a trooper. He never made a peep about it. He was extremely professional. Tyreek was a real champ and handled it, but it was frustrating, on many occasions, after a number of games, Tyreek and I would communicate, and it was frustrating that he wasn’t given a chance to do more to help the team in their efforts to win games.
“Tyreek’s a very unselfish player and is the consummate team player, but there were a lot of things during this season that just felt like there wasn’t the same commitment to him. We got through the year. Tyreek wound up having another All-Pro year, made another historical season and had an epic postseason as well. Once the season was over, we reached out to the Chiefs and we said ‘Hey we want to keep it going.’ Tyreek wanted to be there. Tyreek wanted to be in Kansas City. We tried to do an extension with them.”
In 17 games with Kansas City in 2021, Hill recorded a career-high 111 receptions for 1,239 yards and nine touchdowns. He made his sixth straight Pro Bowl, but he wasn’t actually named an All-Pro.
“When the season ended, just to get to your question, we went to the team, and we basically said ‘Hey Tyreek did a contract after his third year. He’s outplayed that deal,’” Rosenhaus explained. “But, we were really far apart on the numbers. We felt strongly that Tyreek was the best receiver in football and deserved to get paid that way. They were very complimentary of Tyreek, but they were not prepared to make him the highest-paid receiver in football.
“Then, what happened was the Davante Adams deal got done, and I called Tyreek, and I said ‘Look, here’s a guy that’s older than you, isn’t as accomplished, in my mind, as you, in terms of all the things that Tyreek can do with the football and away from the football – his ability to stretch the defense and open things up for (Travis) Kelce. When Adams got the huge deal, I spoke to Tyreek, and we both agreed that we were going to put the pressure on the Chiefs that they were either going to do a deal like that, or it wasn’t a great fit anymore because the respect isn’t mutual if you don’t see it that way.”
Davante Adams got traded from the Green Bay Packers to the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason and immediately got a five-year extension worth $141.25 million to play with his collegiate teammate at Fresno State, Derek Carr.
“I talked to Brett Veach, the team GM, and I outlined the deal that Adams got and that it should be a no-brainer for them to do that deal for us, and if they didn’t want to do that type of deal then we would get them a blockbuster trade,” Rosenhaus said. “I flat-out told them that I felt like I could talk to teams around the league and bring great compensation. I think the Chiefs initially wanted to challenge us and see what we could get from other teams contractually and what we could also get compensation-wise.”
Hill then interrupted Rosenhaus to explain what he was looking for from the Chiefs.
“The crazy part is, I talked to Patrick Mahomes,” Hill said. “I talked to Andy Reid for like 30 minutes or so. I talked to both of them on the phone, I’m like ‘Hey, coach. I don’t even got to be the highest-paid, for real. I just want to be put in a realistic position that’s realistic for me and my family. I don’t got to get $30 million, at least give me $25 (million), $26 million). They wouldn’t even give me numbers even close to that.”
So, to the 28-year-old, Kansas City didn’t view him as a $25 million receiver, and that’s why he sought to go elsewhere. If he’s being truthful, that would make him roughly the sixth-highest paid wideout in the league right now. While there are many talented players at the position, in that system, where Hill had a history of success, he was definitely in the ballpark of the sixth-best receiver and probably did deserve to make the money, as the market dictated.
However, the Chiefs received five picks in exchange for the wideout. They’ve used three of them to help select cornerback Trent McDuffie, wide receiver Skyy Moore and offensive tackle Darian Kinnard in this year’s draft, and they still have Miami’s fourth and sixth-round picks in 2023.
Time will tell if they truly regret the move.