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Marcel Louis-Jacques, ESPN
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill did not walk back his recent comments about a potential exit from Miami but also never requested a trade during a meeting with the team this week, general manager Chris Grier said Tuesday.
Hill hinted that he was open to leaving the Dolphins following Sunday’s season-ending loss to the New York Jets, a game he removed himself from. Miami coach Mike McDaniel dismissed Hill’s actions as “emotional” after the game but commented further on the matter during Tuesday’s news conference.
“We met for, I want to say, an hour yesterday,” McDaniel said. “I think I was very direct with him, he was very honest, and it was great terms that we were discussing. Discussed multiple things, including, without wavering, that it’s not acceptable to leave the game and it won’t be tolerated in the future. He embraced accountability, and I wouldn’t say there was anything necessarily to fix as much as we had to clear the air in a rough and tumultuous situation.”
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Hill’s actions might be reflective of an overall issue the Dolphins faced behind the scenes this season. Multiple players alluded to unspecified teammates being repeatedly late to team meetings, which McDaniel confirmed Tuesday.
McDaniel said he fined players multiple times but concluded that the current punitive system was “not enough” and said changes will need to be made moving forward.
“I think it’s important that you let guys know that we’re at the point in our team where guys are firmly aware of the expectations,” he said. “And if your actions continually lead to final offenses that you’re telling me without words that you don’t want to be here. So, I think it’s very clear — I think it’s not an indictment necessarily of all [players], but we are subject to everyone’s actions as a football team, so we’ll address those as such.”
Hill turned in his worst statistical season since 2019, recording 81 catches for 959 yards and six touchdowns in 17 games. He played six of those games without starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, which he said made things difficult this season.
In his final evaluation of Tagovailoa’s season, Grier said the quarterback’s growth as a leader was notable. However, in his first season since signing a four-year, $212.1 million extension in July, he missed six games to injury — four while on injured reserve due to a concussion and the final two games due to a hip injury. Grier said that Tagovailoa must prioritize staying on the field.
“He needs to be available. He needs to know how to protect himself,” Grier said. “He needs to control what he can control. He understands that not being available after taking chances of risk is not acceptable to us.”
Tagovailoa, the NFL’s passing leader in 2023, said last week that he’d be available if the Dolphins were to make the playoffs, but McDaniel said he was at high risk to exacerbate the “unique muscle injury” if he didn’t allow himself to heal.
Grier said that the injury doesn’t pose any long-term concern for the team and that he is expected to be ready for the 2025 season.
