Dolphins’ Hill says Chiefs ‘going to get this work’

Marcel Louis-Jacques, ESPNNov 2, 2023, 12:02 PM ET
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FRANKFURT, Germany — Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill is appreciative of his time with the Kansas City Chiefs, but even though he looks forward to seeing some of his former teammates when the two sides face off this weekend, he doesn’t feel any additional emotion heading into this week’s game.

Hill spent the first six years of his career with the Chiefs before he was traded to the Dolphins last offseason and faces his former team for the first time Sunday. The game will be played in Frankfurt, Germany, instead of the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium, but Hill said the location of the game isn’t as important as the result.

“It doesn’t really matter where we play at,” he smiled. “I mean, obviously it would’ve been great to play in K.C., but it really doesn’t matter where we play at, you feel me? They going to get this work wherever though.”

Hill’s reunion comes days after he was named the AFC’s Offensive Player of the Month for October. He currently leads the league in receiving yards with 1,014 and is on pace to become the first receiver in NFL history to surpass 2,000 receiving yards in a season.

Since his trade last March, no player has more receiving yards or catches than Hill, and he set a career high with 1,710 yards in his first season with the Dolphins. He did not necessarily want to leave Kansas City when he requested a trade last offseason but wanted to be paid like the best wide receiver in the NFL. Miami made him the highest-paid receiver in NFL history shortly after completing the trade.

“I’m kind of glad that [the trade] happened,” Hill said. “Obviously the situation that I’m in is great. I’ve got great teammates. My family is from Miami, and also, I accomplished one of my goals of being one of the highest paid in the league. So, everything’s great. Life is great, man. Never can take anything for granted. So, I can’t look back. Always got to look forward. That’s my mindset.”

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is known for making plays off-script. Since 2018, he leads all active players in passing yards (16,187), passing touchdowns (121) and quarterback rating (69.4) when his time to throw is greater than 2.5 seconds.

Hill said he offered one major piece of advice to his defensive teammates for when plays break down and Mahomes starts to scramble: Find Travis Kelce.

Since 2018 Kelce leads all players with 296 receptions on passes that take longer than 2.5 seconds to attempt.

“What I’ve been telling the guys to do is just find Kelce,” Hill said. “If you allow Kelce to get open, man, he’s like the energy of that team. Although Pat is all-world, if he finds Kelce and Kelce just catches a 2-yard pass, he just somehow finds energy in that and gets that team going.”

Hill said he looks forward to seeing Mahomes and Kelce, among other former teammates, and expects a lot of back-and-forth chatter throughout the game.

Not that he’s complaining.

“It is going to be trash talk, but it’s going to be fun though,” he said. “It’s going to be like, ‘I want to see you do good, but we going to bust your ass at the same time, though.’ It is going to be one of those things like backyard football with your brothers.”

Hill was named to three All-Pro teams and six straight Pro Bowls during his six years with the Chiefs, and he credits the experience for his current success.

“I just look back at that time and just say, ‘Man, he’s just a young guy just trying to find himself in the league,'” he said. “I was able to learn from so many guys, was able to mature so fast because I was able to step into a receiver role. It was a lot, and I kind of took that on and I didn’t look back.

“The coaching staff trusted me there, and I absolutely loved every minute of it. I wouldn’t take none of it back.”