Tyreek Hill’s 100m flex was fun but enough is enough — 2025 needs to be about football, not footraces and feuds
Tyreek Hill has, indeed, still got the juice. The Miami Dolphins star receiver has been gassing up his speed all offseason amid his ongoing feud with Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles. But until now, Hill's chatter has all been talk on the manner. Hill kicked this up a notch when he took to the track […]
Tyreek Hill has, indeed, still got the juice.
The Miami Dolphins star receiver has been gassing up his speed all offseason amid his ongoing feud with Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles. But until now, Hill's chatter has all been talk on the manner. Hill kicked this up a notch when he took to the track and ran his first official 100 meter race in more than a decade. He won his meet and ran a 10.15 second race.
Hill has gained a bit of extra juice this offseason due to some well-documented weight loss; he told reporters at Miami Dolphins OTAs that he had lost about 15 pounds and was in the mid-180 pound range. When he was first traded to Miami, Hill was playing around 200 pounds. The dip in weight helped Hill not only run well but set a new personal best time in the event.
After the fact, he did throw a little shade at Lyles, too. But Lyles has a personal best in the 100 of 9.83 seconds — Tyreek's track speed at age 31 is an incredible feat and amazingly fast, a conditioned Lyles would outpace Hill down the stretch in the hypothetical race that, hopefully, stays hypothetical.
Hill's had his fun. And he's also proven that he isn't just all talk with the track speed. But with Hill coming off a disappointing 2024 season and recovering from offseason wrist surgery, the Dolphins would undoubtedly love to see Hill "keep the main thing, the main thing".
There were glimpses of Hill catching footballs for the first time this past week during mandatory minicamp. Up until now, he's been catching tennis balls this offseason amid the rehab of his wrist surgery. Given the glimpses of a recovery timeline that now allows for more football-related work, pouring more time and energy into an online beef with an Olympic sprinter versus maximizing the prep for a big 2025 feels, well, extra.
In many ways, it sounds very much like exactly what you'd expect Tyreek Hill to do. Which is part of the problem. There's always been the "extra" element around Hill. But he's reaching the stage of his career where, if he's going to continue to play to his standard, the investment into the football specifics needs to kick up a notch. This isn't to say that Hill hasn't taken care of his body or done the foundational work to be ready for the season. But are you going to be chattering at Lyles for the next month or are you going to be in your quarterback's ear about getting throwing sessions in over the next six weeks?
Tua Tagovailoa, by the way, is planning on holding those sessions. When asked about his plans for the dead period, Tagovailoa's plans seemed centralized to a football field.
"Just workout. I’m going to take a week off, but outside of that I’ll just workout. Just get some throwing in with guys and we’ll get ready for training camp," he said. Tagovailoa and the Dolphins care much more about whether or not Hill is among the "guys" than they do if he can get Lyles to bite on running a race.
Mike McDaniel has becoming increasingly less enthused this summer when being asked about Hill's race. First, he acted as though he'd heard nothing about any track plans for Hill this summer. When most recently asked about track runs this past week, McDaniel offered a strictly business reply.
“So, OK, my stipulations – all right, (Hill)'s going to run. When is it you said? This Friday? Well, on Thursday, he’s going to be practicing football drills, and today he’s practicing football drills. I know for a fact he is training for football. If he wants to run in a straight line against someone and utilize football training, sweet. So I know for a fact he’s not training for track. Good luck. Don’t know who he’s racing. I’m sure they’re fast, and whether he wins or loses, I won’t care. But the good news is we’re locked in on Dolphins football, and no one’s told me about the race, which means their focus is where it should be which is on today’s practice.” – Head coach Mike McDaniel
The tonality of Mike McDaniel's responses to non-football Tyreek Hill questions this offseason underscores a change in dynamics within the Dolphins' building. It's apparent, at least to me, that Mike McDaniel is pressing Tyreek a little tighter about the kind of football player he wants to be.
I also think that's totally fair. You can't talk about not practicing enough last season and complain about not getting 1,000 receiving yards, then spend your offseason time persistently being obsessed with Noah Lyles and pooling time into track work to hopefully set up a race between now and the start of training camp. Those two behaviors don't row in the same direction. And everything the Dolphins are doing this offseason is about getting all the oars in the water pulling at the same time.
Hill just started catching footballs for the first time in months. He's had his fun. But it's time to get down to business and prove to the football world you're still the player you were so upset you didn't show yourself to be in 2024.
The Dolphins are wise to let the rest of the NFL do the dirty work in their contract standoff with Jonnu Smith
The ongoing negotiation between Miami Dolphins and tight end Jonnu Smith did not come to a resolution this week with players in-house for mandatory minicamp. Smith, who enjoyed a record-setting season for the Dolphins in 2024, was not among those to attend amid his efforts to prompt the Dolphins’ brass to meet his request for […]
