MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Tyreek Hill knows this much: The Miami Dolphins are under pressure this season.
More pressure than previous years, given how they ended last season by missing the playoffs for the first time in the Mike McDaniel era.
It’s been obvious to Hill how seriously the Dolphins are taking the desire to perform better than they did last season, when they went 8-9. He’s seen it in his teammates’ focus in meetings, their intentionality in practice. And it has led him to one conclusion:
“I feel like this is probably the closest team that I’ve been on since I’ve been in Miami,” said Hill, who has played in Miami since 2022. “And as far as offensive chemistry, I feel like this is the best version of what I’ve seen the Miami Dolphins offense (look like).”
When asked why was there such an intentional reset within the team this year, Hill, speaking after practice Wednesday, paused before answering.
“My dad always told me pressure is opportunity,” Hill said. “I feel like this is our year. If we don’t do it this year, then when? This is our opportunity.”
Many expected the Dolphins to be among the NFL’s best teams entering the 2024 season, with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa coming off a career year and star talent spread across the roster.
But injuries largely derailed those hopes, and the team continued to struggle in marquee matchups — a pattern that has been criticized as a lingering issue since McDaniel took over in 2022.
Following a season-ending loss to the New York Jets in January, owner Stephen Ross released a statement affirming that McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier would return in 2025.
At the same time, Ross made clear he was not satisfied with the “status quo” and insisted the franchise would make meaningful strides toward “sustaining a winning team that competes for championships.”
While McDaniel and players have said they pay little attention to outside narratives — they’ve adopted a team mantra “they say, we do” — players have noted that there has been a discernible shift in the team’s culture, one that reflects the weight of their 2025 expectations and the urgency to improve.
“I think the biggest thing is the acknowledgement of the reality and focusing on what you can control and thriving in whatever noise you want to apply,” McDaniel said Monday.
“I think the lessons or the things that we need to be adept at, we’ll be adept at in the moment of truth … I think everybody knows that when push comes to shove, you’ll have an opportunity down the stretch of the season for us to be right or wrong, or the naysayers to be right or wrong. And that acknowledgement is kind of liberating for actually doing what you’d like to do. So that ‘they say, we do’ mantra kind of applies throughout the entire course of the season, regardless.”
Hill has been sidelined for the past several weeks with an oblique injury and was listed on the Dolphins injury report Wednesday as limited, but he is expected to be ready to play in Miami’s season opener at the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
Hill’s offseason has consisted of working his way back from wrist surgery and repairing the relationship with his teammates after pulling himself from Miami’s regular-season finale and later indicating he wanted to play elsewhere.
He has since walked back those comments and has been praised by teammates for taking accountability. He wasn’t voted a Dolphins captain this season for the first time since joining the team, though he said in May that he wasn’t expecting the honor and would need to earn the trust of his teammates.
“At the end of that day, I feel like it’s about the team and I don’t need a title to be able to lead,” Hill said. “I’m going to continue to push the standard, what Coach and these guys are pushing in the locker room, and I’ve always been a guy that led by example. The captain thing is great, but like I said, I’m going to continue to do the small things, which is work hard, show up each and every day and bust my tail for this team and try to win games.”