Tyreek Hill – July 28, 2022
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Thursday, July 28, 2022
WR Tyreek Hill
(How exciting is it just the possible combination of you and WR Jaylen Waddle? How special could Jaylen be eventually and what both of you can collectively do?) – “It’s going to be fun. I feel like this season is going to be fast and electric, so it’s going to be definitely fun. I’m excited for it and I can’t wait to get to the season. Well, the season is here, but I can’t wait till we actually play against other teams.”
(Having said that, when you guys line up on the same side even during practice, what do think defenses are…?) – “Oh, they’re scared [expletive]. (laughter) I’m going to tell you what. ‘J. Dub’ (Jaylen Waddle), like he’s faster than I thought. Like when I first got here, I was like, okay he’s a 4.3 because typically when you see 4.3 guys, they don’t run as fast on a football field, but ‘J. Dub’ – like he actually runs a 4.3 on the football field. There’s a difference, right? So like I said, I’m very excited for the season. I can’t wait to see him blossom and continue to move his game forward, which I know he will because he comes out here every single day and he works hard and he wants to get better.”
(He said his playlist was the most bumping so far.) – “I wouldn’t say all that, but it was all right. It got us going as you’ve seen today. The offense was kind of rolling today, so you could say that.”
(On third downs with you and WR Jaylen Waddle and TE Mike Gesicki and WR Cedrick Wilson Jr. and either RB Chase Edmonds or RB Raheem Mostert – can teams stop you if you execute as you should?) – “I’m going to say this, dawg. I never say like another man will be able to stop us, you know what I’m saying? It really doesn’t matter who lines up across (from) us. I know that Coach McDaniel and Tua (Tagovailoa), they’ve got all the confidence in every single guy that lines up on offense to win their matchup, so that’s all I’ve got to say about that.”
(WR Jaylen Waddle described your relationship as lil bro, big bro. How would you describe it?) – “Same way. I feel like it’s one of those situations that I feel like – like I’ve been in the league for some time now and I know that my time is going to come to an end soon, so I just want to see him continue to grow his game, continue to learn the same way I did because I feel like when he came into the league; he didn’t have like that big bro. It was just him. He just came and he still put up a thousand yards, so I’m going to do anything I can to help him move his game forward, help him succeed in this league.”
(What do you like about the plays that are in this particular playbook?) – “What do you mean? From Kansas City to here?”
(No, no. I mean the 49ers-Mike McDaniel-Shanahan style offense. They give you the playbook, probably on an iPad these days, right? And you’re looking through it. What do you like about it?) – “I’ll tell you what, man – trying to learn that stuff is probably the hardest thing that I’ve ever been a part of in an offense, and I’m a smart guy when it comes to understanding football plays and concepts, but like when I first got here, I’m like, ‘Coach Wes (Welker), I do not understand any of this.’ But once I learned the offense, everything began to click, the concepts and stuff like that. It’s a lot of misdirections, a lot of play-action passes and for a speed guy like me, being able to run across the field freely and catch the ball and just get up field; it’s a match made in heaven, baby.”
(You’ve got your podcast obviously and you were on First Take recently. It feels like you’re even more visible since you’ve been down here than ever before. What has this process been of kind of finding your voice and expanding that brand?) – “I don’t know, man. I just had some talks with my family, dawg. My mom, my girl and they were just like, ‘bro, people just really need to understand who you are as a person, as a player, as a father, also as a teammate.’ I just feel like sometimes football players, we have a helmet on during the whole game so people really don’t know who we are or understand the person. So I was just trying to be another outlet for active athletes, to be different, to have his own YouTube, have his own podcast, be on social media a lot. So it’s definitely nothing that I changed my day job for, but it’s fun.”
(What do you think that LB Melvin Ingram can do here that he couldn’t do in Kansas City?) – “Well hopefully he can make a basketball shot because in Kansas City we had a basketball (hoop) in the locker room and he could not hit a shot. (laughter) So hopefully he can do that. But I think Melvin (Ingram), he brings that veteran leadership, brings a certain mentality to that side of the ball – aggressive, old school, big-body thumper. So I think for him to come to Miami, he’s a great addition to already a great defense.”
(If you and WR Jaylen Waddle were cars, what kind of cars would you guys be on the football field?) – “I’m going to tell you like this. If we were cars – I’m going to give you the joking answer first – if we were cars and we were racing you would compare him to like, a 2003 Honda Civic and then I would be like a Maserati or something. You know what I’m saying? (laughter) But realistically, if me and him are on the same side, same football field, teammates side by side, it’d be like a Lambo and a Ferrari.”
(Have you ever had anybody with speed close to yours lining up with you?) – “I mean, obviously, man. I played with a lot of fast guys. I played with a fast guy last year – Mecole Hardman – who can also play football. A lot of people don’t give him credit for him just being able to come in as a young guy and be able to play in that style of an offense, so he’s another fast guy.”
(Yesterday QB Tua Tagovailoa was saying he appreciated having you as a teammate. What have you made of the national reaction to you basically just being positive about your teammate and having such a polarizing opinion nationally?) – “I just feel like people, man, they just take [expletive] and they just run with it, dawg. You know how people are. They really don’t read the headlines. Obviously I said what I said, Tua was more accurate. But ‘One-Five’ (Patrick Mahomes), he’s always going to be ‘One-Five.’ Speaking of Mahomes, like he’s great. Like he’s arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks I feel like I played with or in this league right now. So national attention? I’ll take it, so that’s good range for me and my podcast. We’ll take it all day. (laughter)”
(Have you always worked this hard in practice…?) – “Always. I’ve always been like this. When I first arrived in Kansas City, I got drafted as a fifth-round draft pick. I feel like I could have went higher, but my mom always told me ‘control what you can control and that’s you energy and that’s your effort.’ So every day I step out here on this field, it doesn’t matter what I did in the past – Super Bowl rings, whatever the case, how many contracts I signed, all that [expletive] goes out the window because when I line up on this football field, I’m out here trying to do the same thing over and over again. Compete and have fun and make my teammates better. That’s my mindset.”
(Have you always had this level of confidence or later in your life you kind of started developing confidence?) – “I’ve always been like this even when I was a kid, too, though. I used to talk back to my dad when I was a kid, so even when playing one-on-one like, ‘you suck.’ Stuff like that. (laughter) I feel like I’ve always had that confidence.”
(On that note of practicing hard with these shorter practices and less reps, can you talk about how deliberate you have to take each one of value and each rep you’re getting out there?) – “I think it’s better. I feel like when you come out here, you’ve got an understanding of how practice is going to be. It’s going to be fast. Like you said, it’s going to be deliberate and you’re going to get the most out of it because like, ‘Okay, I got four reps in this period. I got four reps in this period. I know I’ve got to go full-speed every rep.’ So I mean, I’m a sprinter. All you guys know sprinters get tired fast because we’ve got quick-twitch muscles. So for me being able to go in four reps each period and do my thing and run full speed and then come out and take a break; fast and deliberate is great, man.”
(There’s a lot of talk on what Patrick Mahomes will look like without you, you’ll look like without Patrick. Is there any added motivation now that you’re away from the Chiefs to show that you’re still that same guy?) – “No, I just feel like all I can do is just be me. Be me and just help this team win games. ‘One-Five’ (Patrick Mahomes) – he’s still going to be great. ‘TK’ (Travis Kelce) is still going to be great. That whole team is still going to be great, so I just feel like – like I said – all I can do is just control what I can control. That’s my energy, that’s my effort and that’s my intensity every time I step on this field.”
