Tyreek Hill had been negotiating a contract extension to remain in Kansas City up until March. He also knew he wanted to leave the Chiefs much earlier than that.
The latter point is one of the revelations from the now-Miami Dolphins star receiver’s interview with Shannon Sharpe on FOX Sports’ “Club Shay Shay” podcast. Hill said he initially desired a change of scenery during the “middle of last season” due to what he felt was a lack of targets.
“I’m the type of guy, like, I love playing ball and I love being by the team, because football is a team sport, right?” Hill said. “And it would be some games where, like, I’d get two targets, I’d get three targets. And we’d go into meetings and my coach would be like, ‘We’ve got to get you involved, we’ve got to get you involved.'”
Hill did see a decrease in targets as the regular season went on in 2021, getting targeted five or fewer times in four of Kansas City’s final six games. He was also targeted just five times in the Chiefs’ first playoff game but had double-digit targets in their final two playoff games.
Tyreek Hill wanted to stay with Mahomes, Kelce and Chiefs but didn’t feel valuable
Shannon Sharpe and Tyreek Hill discuss the wideout’s departure from the Chiefs and shares the moments he knew his career would not end in Kansas City.
Hill shared with Sharpe that he spoke with Andy Reid and said that he didn’t even need to be the highest-paid receiver, saying he wanted to stay with Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. But he still told the Chiefs to “take care of your boy.”
Originally, Hill wanted a contract that’d be worth $25 million per year. But his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told Hill that he could get more than that.
“I talked with Pat and he was like, ‘We’ve got to get you back,’ and was like ‘Yeah bro, I want to come back,’” Hill recalled. “But we’ve got to make the money right. Let’s make the guaranteed money sound at least right. … Miami called said ‘We’re just going to go all out, we’re going to offer you $72 million guaranteed. And I was like, ‘I can’t turn that down.’ With no state income tax, I’m basically living in my house for free right now.”
Hill said that he and his agent went back to Kansas City with the offer he received from Miami to see if it would match. The Chiefs didn’t.
“I was like, ‘OK, bet,’” Hill said. “That really goes to show you how valuable I am to them as opposed to how valuable I could be to Miami. So, I signed the deal and got it done.”
Tyreek Hill calls out the Chiefs and wants to face them in the playoffs
Hill shares he would love the opportunity to face his former team and warns them he’s going to show out.
Hill added that there were no hard feelings toward the Chiefs, and he’s “still got love” for the team, along with Mahomes and Kelce.
However, there’s a chance that Hill’s Dolphins, who are 8-5, could end up facing the Chiefs in the playoffs — and he promises that he won’t play like he’s still got love for them in that potential playoff game.
“If we do play them, if we do see them, it’s showtime again,” Hill said. “It’s showtime. … They better have two people on me, that’s all I know. The Cheetah will be arriving in Kansas City or Miami, I don’t care where I be at.”
Top stories from FOX Sports:
Read more from the World Cup:
Get more from National Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
