MIAMI GARDENS — Miami Dolphins star wide receiver Tyreek Hill has been immensely supportive of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa since the day he was traded to the Dolphins from the Kansas City Chiefs.
So, of course, when Tagovailoa and the Dolphins agreed to terms on a four-year contract extension, Hill was thrilled.
“I was excited,” Hill said following Thursday’s seventh training camp practice. “I was turned up for my boy. We were all sitting in meetings, and when it happened, we all came to the quarterback room to congratulate him, but he wasn’t down there. I was real happy.”
Hill has been instrumental in Tagovailoa turning the corner early in his career. Maligned by former coach Brian Flores in the quarterback’s first two seasons in Miami, the combination of Hill and coach Mike McDaniel restored Tagovailoa’s confidence as he began to play more free.
It led Tagovailoa to lead the NFL in quarterback rating and yards per attempt in 2022, his first season with Hill, and then lead the league in total passing yards in 2023, Tagovailoa’s first NFL season where he made it through healthy.
“The message was, simply, we got what we wanted,” Hill said. “Our quarterback got paid, so now, it’s time to take care of business.”
Hill is also seeking an extension or restructure in his own right, as he’s balancing how he wants to secure guarantees beyond the 2024 season but with the intent to stay in Miami and eventually retire as a Dolphin.
Hill’s contract negotiation, though, is not escalating to the point that Tagovailoa reached, with varying degrees of participation in practice. Tagovailoa even sat out the team’s second practice of camp last week before returning for a solid day of work last Friday, hours before his deal got done.
“You see me out here practicing each and every day,” Hill said. “At this point, my focus is on helping this team win games.”
He remains optimistic about eventually getting his contract reworked, with agent Drew Rosenhaus on hand for Thursday’s session in Miami Gardens.
“I know it’s going to come, whenever it happens,” Hill said. “My agent, he’s doing his thing. I just got done having a conversation with him. Conversations are positive right now, and we’re going to keep it positive. But for right now, I’m going to keep practicing every day, trying to help this team win games.”
Also receiving an extension this offseason — for three years, $84.75 million — fellow wide receiver Jaylen Waddle has remained a standout through a week-plus of camp, even after locking in his long-term contract security.
“He’s done a great job of being real coachable,” Hill said of watching Waddle grow from taking him in after his rookie season. “It’s a lot of guys that are real talented, but the guys that are most successful are the ones that are coachable.”
It’s something that Hill believes in to continue to find room to grow despite his eight Pro Bowl seasons.
“I can go for 2,000 yards, I can still get better,” said Hill, who finished with 1,799 receiving yards in 2023. “For him, he’s come in with a different approach on what routes I need to get better at, how can I be more talkative with the quarterback, what spots I need to be (in). He’s still coming in each and every day busting his tail.”
Waddle has won a lot of matchups with standout cornerback Jalen Ramsey, especially in 1-on-1s and then Thursday with a touchdown in a late-game situational setting, a third-and-3 from 43 yards out.
Early in Thursday drills, Ramsey went back and forth with Hill in a 1-on-1 period in a true “iron sharpens iron” exchange.
“Very fortunate to have Ramsey on the other side,” Hill said. “A real competitive guy, a guy that doesn’t shy away from anything. So, it’s fun. It’s a part of the game. You win some, you lose some. Fortunately for us (the receivers), we’ve been on the winning side.”
One instance where Hill and the offense didn’t win, however, involved him running the wrong route. In that moment, Tagovailoa communicated to him and Hill took ownership for the mistake, tapping himself on the helmet.
“I be so fired up. I be so ready to go against Ramsey, bro, that sometimes I just forget my freaking route, man,” Hill said. “On that play, he threw it to a spot. He was right. I went out, and it was supposed to be in.
“It’s just one of those things that I got to be in the right spot at the right time. And he came and told me, ‘Come on, ‘Reek. I need you in the right spot.’ I was in the wrong spot.”
Hill has found one of the greater benefits to going against Ramsey is it helps him work on different leverages and releases to go against cornerbacks with longer arms.
