Tyreek Hill – July 23, 2024
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Tuesday, July 23, 2024
WR Tyreek Hill
(What is your expectation for training camp regarding work with QB Tua Tagovailoa, getting the three receivers and Tua together with “OBJ” [WR Odell Beckham Jr.]? What are your expectations there?) – “I’m excited. I haven’t been this excited since the birth of my first daughter and being able to work with Tua, being able to work with (Jaylen) Waddle and also ‘O’ (Odell Beckham Jr.); it’s been a pleasure, man. Obviously, God has blessed me to be on some great offenses – some in Kansas City – obviously the time we won a Super Bowl with myself, (Travis) Kelce, (Sammy) Watkins, ‘D. Rob’ (Demarcus Robinson) and the list goes on. But just this group here alone, man, it gives me the same feeling. All of the guys are ready to work. All of the guys understand that there is only one football and there will be plenty of opportunities throughout the game for all of us to touch the ball and Tua understands that. So, he doesn’t have any pressure to deliver a target here or deliver a target there. It’s all about moving the ball and keeping our defense off the field as much as we can and having a target like ‘OBJ’ opens up all of that. It opens up a lot of windows for a lot of people so I’m very excited, very excited.”
(Speaking of Tua, how do you think he’s feeling about not yet having his deal done? Have you seen him yet? How’s he feeling?) – “Tua, he’s in great spirits. Obviously, I can’t speak on his part about the contract situation because that’s his business – his personal business – and as his teammate, as his brother, I try to stay out of that. But as far as how he feels as far as mental health standpoint, he feels amazing. He’s very excited to be back in the building with all of the guys, so it’s great to see him out there. Still coming in to work, still about his business without having a deal done and it’s just been awesome, man. Just having him around. Just his presence means a lot to a lot of the guys, especially me, so excited.”
(Do you think he’ll practice?) – “Yes, I believe he will and here’s why. I believe he will practice because Tua, he’s very competitive. He would not tell you that, but he’s very competitive and he’s a guy that doesn’t like to fall too far behind and he understands that we have a really good team, and he doesn’t want to miss his window. Like I said, we’ve got a great offense. Our defense is really good, it’s looking really good this year so he understands all of that, so I believe he’s going to practice.”
(What do you think the next level for this offense is? You guys obviously have great speed on the outside. What happens this year to go to another level?) – “For us, going back and just looking at all of it from a veteran standpoint, I feel like we have to be able to stay on the field. Third downs are huge downs for us. For us, it’s either boom or bust. We’re one of those teams that if we don’t have the long ball, it’s like, ‘ah hell, here’s [going to be] a long game.’ So for us having a target like ‘OBJ,’ having a guy like Jonnu Smith on our team that can help extend those drives; are going to be huge. Even having a healthy (De’Von) Achane, having a healthy (Jaylen) Waddle, having a healthy myself, having a healthy (Raheem) Mostert; helps all of that. That’s one thing I know that, that’s what we took head-on as an individual group, as an individual offense without the coaches. It’s like, ‘hey, here’s what we’re going to get better at.’ Outside of what the coaches got, here’s what we think we need to get better at to help this team moving forward. So, I think just being able to extend drives, have those 12-play drives, have those 10-play drives versus having a five-play and under drive where it’s like, ‘oh, he hits Waddle on a 75-yard post.’ And it’s like, ‘oh, strike up the band.’ And it’s like, bruh, we can’t do that every game unfortunately. We can’t. As fast as we are and as much as people want to tell us how special we are, we can’t do that. We’ve got to be able to have good drives, so that’s what we believe we’ve got to get better at.”
(I know the team goals have to be the first thing on your mind, but last year you made no secret that you had a personal goal, set the bar extremely high. And for a lot of the year, you were ahead of that pace. Where are you this year? What is your goal and how achievable is it?) – “I will say for me, last year is last year. Obviously, it was great for me to come out and say X, Y, Z, ‘I want to get 2k, I want to do this and that.’ That’d be great. Grand scenario, that’d be great. But I feel like at the same time I have to understand that the position that I’m in and me being one of the leaders and just singling out an individual goal like that—because I had time to go look at it and talk about it with my family; and that’s very selfish of me. So here moving forward, individual goal I’ve been talking about this whole entire offseason with my teammates and with my family is, I would want us to, A: win a playoff game. I would love that. We’re going to start with that. Then moving forward continuing to build on that, we’re going to move to the Super Bowl. It’s one step at a time. If I’m able help this team do something special as a team goal, I would definitely count that as an individual goal as my own. And that’ll feel good. That’d be something that I could live with for the rest of my life. So that’d be great.”
(So 2,000 is off the table?) – “I’m not saying it’s off the table, now (laughter). But I understand how the season goes. Teams prepare to take me out of games. They prepare to take (Jaylen) Waddle out of games, so there could be situations that I have good games. There could be situations where I have bad games, but let’s not scratch off the 2k yet, all right? If it comes, it comes. God will bless me.”
(How much did that – that tackle speaking of 2k – that tackle against Tennessee that…) – “The hip-drop, right?”
(Hip-drop and horse collar, to me, it was a combination. How much did that affect the season for the team? The offense was never the same and then you getting to 2,000 – you would have had it, right, if not for that? Or what do you think? How much did that tackle change…?) – “Here’s what I think; I feel like football is football. If you ain’t being dirty, grabbing guys by like, the facemask or anything, that’s crazy. I feel like at the end of the day, that guy, which was Sean Murphy-Bunting, was just doing his job. His job was to tackle me to the ground and he did a great job of it. I feel like I’ve been in this league long enough and I understand different movements to help me avoid different things like that. I can do a better job of protecting myself. And the NFL trying to ban it and trying to do all this other nonsense, I feel like at the same time, I’m against it – because I’ve been playing football my whole life. And I played on the defensive side of the ball, and I understand how hard it is already to try to tackle a guy, especially if he’s moving fast or if he’s running right at you. You’ve got to do anything you can to get him down. It’s hard. Being on the other side of that, it’s like, bro, I just don’t know what to say, man. It’s going to be a great year for offensive players, I feel like—If that is a rule. I don’t know. It’s definitely going to be tough. But like I said, I could have done a better job of protecting myself. He did what he had to do, which was his job. As you see, there was no ill intent. He came right over, like ‘you good?’ ‘I’m good.’”
(How do you protect yourself against a hip-drop tackle?) – “We call that the Tyler Lockett Method. And the Tyler Locket Method is fall to the ground or run out of bounds (laughter). That’s no shot at Tyler Lockett. That just means that he does a great job of knowing situations and understanding what’s around him.”
(He’s got a whole highlight reel of …) – “See, you know what I’m talking about. You know what’s crazy? My son actually showed me the highlight reel and I was like, you know what? I may actually have to start doing that. So shoutout to Tyler Lockett, showing younger guys how to stay in the league longer. That is a great way to teach guys.”
(You’re now 30. I heard you on one of your platforms say that you did stem cell and how much it helped and that it helped you. What have you done to try to extend your career and also how long do you see yourself continuing to play?) – “Stem cells have been great. I just got back from Antigua, actually yesterday, from doing stem cells and it’s been amazing. Just helping me regenerate some of the cells in my body and giving me the correct blood flow that I need. So that’s been great. And as far as training, I feel like I’m going to be training my whole entire life because I feel like each and every year I’ve got to prove something to people. Because a lot of people feel like I’m not supposed to be doing what I’m supposed to be doing because of my size and my stature. But it’s like – Tom Brady said it the best – you don’t have to be the best or you don’t have to be the strongest or the tallest but as long as you stay consistent in what you do each and every day, you’ll be all right. And I feel like that’s who I’ve been my whole entire career. I show up to meetings, I bust my tail in the offseason and I’ve done everything right in the football space. And that’s helped me achieve a lot of things—because some of what Tom Brady has had to say. Because he was a late-round draft pick and I was also a late-round draft pick. I don’t know why I said that, but I don’t know – football to me is, I don’t know. It’s one of those things, my son is getting older. Obviously, he’s starting to play sports and he’s like, ‘Dad, I want you to come to more of my games.’ And it’s like the more I hear that, the more it’s like, man, it’s about time for me to like, I don’t know. So I don’t know. Who knows about when or where I make decision on when I want to stop playing, but I definitely know I want to be in my kids’ life because every offseason I get all of my kids and it’s truly a blessing to have that moment with all of my boys and be able to help develop them into some great young men the same way that my dad developed me. So I don’t know, I don’t know.”
(Do you think your contract will be adjusted or extended before the season?) – “I don’t know. To be honest, I have no idea. Obviously I let Drew (Rosenhaus) and the team handle that situation. And the only thing I told Drew was like, ‘Do not get me traded. Last time you did this, you got me traded.’ So that’s been my only thing to him. I want to stay here in Miami because obviously this is where family is now. Everybody loves it here. Family loves it, wife loves it, kids love it. So obviously I love it. I love playing for Coach (McDaniel) and the team. My teammates are awesome so I wouldn’t want to leave. The fans are awesome, too. I just love how the fans hold us accountable every day on Twitter. So we’re getting better, I promise you. We’re not just sitting around drinking smoothies. We’re getting better.”
