‘Believe that’: Dolphins’ Hill vows to top 2K yards

Last updated: 2023/07/16 at 1:39 AM

BigP Published July 16, 2023

Marcel Louis-Jacques, ESPNJul 15, 2023, 08:36 PM ET
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MIAMI — Tyreek Hill has a clear goal for this season.

The Miami Dolphins wide receiver said on his podcast, “It Needed to Be Said,” that he will break the 2,000-yard receiving mark, something that’s yet to be accomplished in NFL history.

“I will break 2,000 yards next year, bro,” Hill said. “2,000 yards was on my bucket list to get before I leave this league … 2,000 yards and another Super Bowl — we getting that. Believe that.”

The NFL record for receiving yards in a single season is 1,964, set by former Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson Jr. in 2012. Hill was on pace to break 2,000 yards last season, after hitting 1,104 yards in his first nine games; myriad injuries at the quarterback position derailed his campaign, but he still set career highs with 1,710 yards on 119 receptions.

Remarkably, Hill admitted earlier this offseason that he got by mainly on his athletic ability in his first year with the Dolphins and hadn’t quite grasped the playbook.

“Last year, I was just out there balling,” he said in June. “I was just out there just using all athleticism. Like, ‘Here, [Dolphins quarterback] Tua [Tagovailoa], I’m going to be here and we’re just going to do that.’ So, this year should be a crazier year not only for me, but for also for the other wideouts.”

Miami added receivers Braxton Berrios and Robbie Chosen to a room that already included Hill and Jaylen Waddle, who also set a career high last season with 1,356 yards.

Whether Hill can flirt with or surpass the 2,000-yard mark largely depends on the health of Tagovailoa after the quarterback was limited to 13 regular-season games in 2022. But Hill remains confident in his odds of making NFL history.

“I feel like I’ve got the right tools around me,” he said. “I’ve got obviously the most accurate quarterback in the NFL, I’ve got one of the best head coaches in the NFL and also my position coach is a monster also. So just having those three things and me just keeping the same mindset each and every day that I want to get better and I want to break the record and I do want to break the record.

“So I feel like this is one of those years that I can achieve it.”