Dave Hyde: Tyreek Hill wants out? Dolphins better off trading one high-priced receiver anyhow.

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Jan 11, 2025

Published in Football

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — If Tyreek Hill wants out, there’s the door.

If the Miami Dolphins receiver wants to be traded, find a trade.

There’s a plane leaving town every few minutes. Nobody’s going to miss him too much if he’s on one.

Two personally good years don’t give Hill carte blanche to be a constant off-field headache in his third year: Arriving late for meetings; blaming the coach for his dropped catches; quitting on his team by refusing to re-enter a game; throwing a diva tantrum in wanting to be traded — “I’m out, bro”; and contributing to his position coach, Wes Welker, being fired on Friday.

Forgiving media and his agent say Hill doesn’t really want to be traded. But here we are, a week later, and Hill hasn’t retracted a word even on his snappy social-media account. He did post his head on Antonio Brown’s body waving bye-bye earlier in the week, though.

So, go ahead, find a trade. Or let him try to find one. Then he can see the real problem here.

This crisis is an opportunity for the Dolphins. General manager Chris Grier and coach Mike McDaniel can correct a problem with this roster’s asset allocation if they haven’t already bungled it by adding guaranteed money to Hill’s contract last summer. They can at least gain some control of the larger team by not continuing to cave in to him.

The fundamental question the Dolphins need to answer here isn’t about Hill’s faulty attitude. It’s this: Why have two small, speed receivers with big price tags if you can’t get either the ball consistently?

If you spend big on Hill and Jaylen Waddle, they have to be the focus of this offense. They have to produce more than Hill’s six touchdowns and Waddle’s two last season, too. End of discussion.

Hill at least was the focus of defenses. Waddle, especially had an invisible season. Is it these receivers? The quarterback? The design? The lack of a running game? The two-deep defensive schemes other teams used against Miami? Can it be fixed to make this team win?

Just say it: The Dolphins would be better off not carrying two expensive, speed receivers they can’t get the ball to consistently. This is a prime architectural problem with this team. Hill’s $27.7 million and Waddle’s $8 million salary-cap charges next season don’t cover the real cost of trading either thanks to the new deals and guaranteed money.

This gets into the Dolphins doing more wrong last season than just in the standings. Making Hill the richest NFL receiver in trading for him two years ago wasn’t enough. They re-did the deal to give him $90 million over three years last summer.

That was part of Grier and McDaniel’s idea to purchase player loyalty. Another lesson learned for the first-time coach.

By NFL calculus, Hill’s cap hit would be $28.3 million if traded before June 1. That’s the high hurdle the Dolphins created here. They essentially have the same cap hit if he plays for them or not. Is that worth, say, the third-round pick he’d bring for a playoff-win-or-bust kind of season for management?

Waddle’s cap hit is $15.1 million to trade him before June 1 (meaning so you could get a draft pick that could help you next season). That’s more doable, if still painful. Would Grier trade a player he took sixth overall for a far lesser draft pick?

How to win with these big assets and how to repair a leaky culture are the questions here. Hill’s remains the issue who keeps on giving. His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said on ESPN this past week the wrist Hill complained about during the season actually was broken in preseason.

That was never listed on the team’s injury report. That’s a nice fine if the NFL decides the Dolphins were lying. Of course, one Dolphins official said in November that Hill never had a wrist injury, that it’s just Hill being Hill.

You put up with this nonsense on a winning team. The Dolphins knew that trading for him. Kansas City knew it, too, and decided it would be too much once he got a big contract. The Chiefs won two Super Bowls without Hill and are contending for a third this winter. So it worked out for them.

And the Dolphins? Grier said Hill didn’t ask him to be traded. No matter if Hill announced it to coaches, teammates and the larger world after Miami’s season finale. There’s nothing to see here, the GM said. That’s one way to do business.

The other way is if Hill wants out, show him the door if you can. The Dolphins have been so nice, paid him so much, they’ll have trouble trading him.

This offseason riddle becomes which can be accomplished: Trading Hill or Waddle to properly re-order assets or getting each the ball enough next season to justify their salaries and what you put up with.