Tyreek Hill has not shied away from accountability in 2024.
The star wide receiver, who won a Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs before joining the Miami Dolphins, is currently having one of the least productive seasons of his nine-year career.
He has 834 yards and six touchdowns through 16 weeks – a far cry from the league-leading numbers he finished with last season (1,799 yards and 13 TDs).
And while Miami secured an important 29-17 win against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday to keep their playoff hopes alive, Hill’s struggles were on full display.
He caught just three passes for 29 yards and a touchdown – and is now on pace for just 945 receiving yards this season – the lowest total of his career since 2019.
What was even more surprising than Sunday’s low output is that Hill got his hands on three passes that ultimately fell incomplete.
Two of those were in the end zone and would have resulted in touchdowns.
When asked about those missed opportunities post game, Hill attributed his drops to a lack of practice reps with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and admitted that he only has himself to blame.
“At the end of the day, I need those valuable reps with Tua,” the 30-year-old said.
“Those veteran rest days are starting to show. I completely blame myself for not getting my head around and not seeing the ball because, if I see a ball, we’re talking cross-court, 70-yard touchdown.
“But those Wednesday reps are definitely showing.
“As a leader, I’ve just got to be able to bite the bullet sometime and practice and get those valuable reps with QB1 because, if we’re able to stay on the field on third down, who knows what could happen.”
Hill was targeted by Tagovailoa seven times against the 49ers, and he first dropped a pass on third down during Miami’s opening drive.
Later in the quarter, he dropped another third-down pass, this time in the end zone.
He was also targeted on an end zone route late in the third quarter, again on third down, but dropped the pass.
The Dolphins had to settle for field goals on both of Hill’s end zone drops.
While Hill has once again shown the kind of accountability expected of a locker room leader in blaming missed practices and no one else for his struggles, it is common for NFL teams to give veteran players days off during the week.
Especially when they have been battling injuries, as Hill has.
The star WR was listed as questionable for Sunday’s game because of a wrist issue, which he has struggled with throughout the season.
Hill has missed Wednesday practices in two of the past four weeks, and has been listed as limited or worse in at least one practice every week since Week 7.
Speaking to reporters, he doubled down on his lack of practice reps as the reason for his struggles on Sunday, and called back to a lesson he learned while playing under Chiefs coach Andy Reid.
“On the deep ball, it was tipped by the defensive back, and on the other one, it’s just, again, missing those valuable reps with the quarterback,” Hill said.
“One thing I learned from Coach Reid whenever I was in Kansas City, I was blessed to be able to play under such a great head coach, is you can’t just show up on Sunday.
“You’ve got to be able to prepare yourself Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, even Saturday. Then when it’s Sunday, it’s easy.”
With a record of 7-8, the Dolphins are hoping to sneak into the last wild card playoff spot in the AFC.
As it stands, the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos are ahead of them – both with 9-6 records – while the Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals are also still alive with 7-8 records.
That means Miami have two must-win games against the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets to come, and will need Hill firing on all cylinders if they are to have any chance of making the postseason.
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