Tyreek Hill – November 10, 2022
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Thursday, November 10, 2022
WR Tyreek Hill
(You talk about leadership a lot. Have you always been that way, like in Kansas City? Or was there a point in Kansas City where you felt comfortable taking on that leadership role or do you think you’ve always been like that?) – “I’ve always been that dude. I’ve always been – every team I’ve been on. I may not have been as vocal on every team I’ve been on, but I feel like I’ve always been a leader, no matter what. Leaders can lead in different type of ways. So I feel like I’ve had that role my whole entire life, because all of my career, people hold me to a standard. I even hold myself to a standard too, though. I wouldn’t say people – I wouldn’t say I’m doing it for people, but I’m doing it for myself because I have too much pride in this game.”
(What have you liked about how this offense has utilized you the first half of the year?) – “They’ve been doing a great job. Coach McDaniel, Tua (Tagovailoa) finding me in lanes, even Teddy (Bridgewater) and Skylar (Thompson) stepped in, doing their thing. I’m just happy to be a part of this offense. I’m an extremely blessed man and thank God for this opportunity.”
(I know you’re super competitive, but how much do you enjoy your teammates success on the field as well?) – “It’s fun, man. I feel like a guy like Jaylen Waddle doesn’t get enough credit for what he truly does, kind of similar like me early on in my career. So just to see him succeed and just to see guys like Tua (Tagovailoa) succeeding in this league and just the whole offensive line doing their thing, man, it makes me smile. I’m just happy to be able to witness it all.”
(You mentioned an enjoyment that we see with the backfield, too. Is that just part of who you are?) – “Yeah, that’s just me, dawg. That’s just me. Just having fun, doing what I love, I feel like I’m playing America’s sport. So just having fun with the game, man.”
(The backflip was new though. We haven’t seen that one this season.) – “I was about to say, I’ve been doing a backflip my whole career, baby. That’s what I do, man. (laughter) But I haven’t really had an opportunity to do a backflip, because against the Ravens when I scored, we were down like two touchdowns. So I had to save my energy a little bit. In Chicago, it was the right moment, man. I feel like we either went up or we tied the game, so I was feeling the energy. The juices were nice and flowing there.”
(Are you surprised about the memes? I’ve seen different memes of you flipping, flying through the air that people put on social media. If you have, what do you think of them?) – “The memes been crazy, man. My family, they’ve been doing a great job of keeping me aware of all the memes – the Shawn Michaels memes, the dolphin memes, me jumping out of planes memes, so it’s great. I feel like I can use those to my leverage. I really enjoyed that.”
(Was there one that you liked that really stood out to you, one of the memes?) – “Definitely the Randy Orton, the RKO one – I liked that one a lot, because I’m a Randy Orton fan. So, really enjoyed that one.”
(You mentioned that competitiveness before. Now you’re on pace for potentially a record for a season. Does that come up in trying to get that record? Do you even think about it? How do you approach that?) – “My job each and every week is just to focus on the next game. So I can’t look forward – as bad as I want to sit here and say, ‘Hey, I want to break the record,’ that would be real selfish of me. I know my job as one of the leaders on this team is just to make sure we’re doing the right thing and I’m also doing the right thing, and that’s focusing on the next week, which is the Cleveland Browns and just hoping we go out and just be victorious.”
(I heard you on the radio promoting your charity event tomorrow. The question was brought up about QB Tua Tagovailoa and the confidence that you have in him. What I heard you say was that you’ve believed in him from the first day you saw him and working with him, and you said, “People should start pulling up a chair to the table and apologizing to him.”) – “That’s it. That’s it. It’s easy, man. That’s all people got to do, man – just set their pride aside. Everybody isn’t blessed to come into certain situations. Unfortunately, Tua, he came into a difficult situation. Obviously, two years down the road, he got ‘J-Dub,’ which is Jaylen Waddle, to help him out a little bit. But some guys don’t come into great situations, so I feel like once he got a coach who truly believed in who he is as a person, who he is as a player, this organization got around him, look at the talent now he’s got around him. A lot of people can begin to grab their chairs – we’ve got enough room at the table, man. So media people, I’m saying this to y’all – y’all can apologize now.”
(What can you tell us about your charity event?) – “I’m really looking forward to it. I tell people all the time, the event is going to be great, raising money for charity, raising money for mental health (and) bringing awareness to that. But for me, just being a father, for me to be where I’m at in my life, I’ve had to sacrifice so much time away from my family and my kids. So I really get a chance to just hang out with my kids, hang out my family. That’s really like what I’m looking forward to, seeing my kids dress up, because I’m really missing key parts of their life. So for me to have my kids there is like, really important to me and is really huge for me. I’m really excited about tomorrow, man.”
(Is it important also because you’re such a recognizable player on this team that you’re the one who stands out? The other players do charities as well, but for you personally, why is that so important? Because people recognize who you are.) – “I’ve always been that guy, man. Receive a blessing, give a blessing. My grandparents and my parents, they raised me – I feel like they raised me the right way. I’m in a great position to be a role model to many. I’m in a great position to inspire a lot of people, maybe not the whole world, but inspire a lot of people, so why not use your platform? I feel like a lot of guys take this opportunity for granted and they don’t use it. So here I am, I’m going to try to use my platform to raise as much money as I can for mental health (and) learn a little bit more about mental health, because we all go through it. That’s what I’m about, man.”
(Wide Receivers Coach Wes Welker said not a lot of receiving leaders are blocking the way you do. What do you think you’re doing in that aspect of the game?) – “You’ve got to be physical, man. I feel like for a smaller guy like me, I really can make my statement and like slow DBs down, whether it’s corners or free safeties, if I come down and I’m able to ear-hole them or knock them on the ground. I can use that to my advantage. So for me being able to block those guys, slow those guys down a little bit and just give them a different change of pace, a different tempo is something that I definitely had to add to my game. I’ve been doing it my whole career, so it’s nothing new.”
(Head Coach Mike McDaniel was talking about your competitiveness, he referenced how one time, this guy named WR Braylon Sanders ran the fastest and you came out and broke the record the next day on the GPS. Do you remember that? And do you have the fastest current Dolphins history time recorded?) – “Come on, now. Come on, now. My name wouldn’t be Cheetah for no reason – that’s what I do. (laughter) But yeah, I feel like my whole entire life, I’m not a sore loser – I just love to win, man. I just love to compete. Just like today at practice, me and a few of the DBs got into it, because those guys do a good job of challenging us each and every week and getting us ready for our opponents. I kind of got triggered by that, like ‘Oh, you caught me by surprise today.’ So me being me, I didn’t take that too lightly and we were going back and forth. Today was a fun day at practice. The DBs, they won a lot of reps, and the receivers won a lot of reps, so it was a great day.”
