Dave Hyde: Can Tyreek Hill (please) act like the player he wants to be?

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Jul 22, 2025

Published in Football

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Tyreek Hill said who he wants to be this season. It was something to hear. He stood in a white T-shirt, sweating from a Tuesday morning workout, and went down a to-do checklist for himself on the edge of the Miami Dolphins training camp.

“Just being present, every day on time,’’ he said. “Doing things extra, like catching footballs after practice. Conditioning. You know what I’m saying? Whenever I’m tired, being that vocal leader in the locker room for guys.

“Just being able to do what, Miami paid me to be and what I know I can be and my family knows what I can be.”

Yes, that’s who the Dolphins receiver wants to be.

Now, can he be that guy?

Will he show up on time and put in extra work two weeks from now, or two losses from now, and in the third week of December after he only sees a few balls thrown his way on a cold day on the road?

This offense relies again on Hill to be its engine. We can debate a lot of things about the Dolphins as they start another year. But everything good about this offense still centers on turning his speed game into scoreboard points.

That’s why it was good to hear he needs to be the pro he wasn’t last season. He’s self-aware enough to know how he should act in ways he didn’t too much of the time in 2024. That’s all come out by now. He’d be late for meetings. Hill and Jalen Ramsey regularly sauntered out to the practice field while the team was already in mid-stretching.

Hill refused to play by the end of the season finale against the New York Jets, and then asked to be traded in the postgame locker room.

“I’m out,’’ he said.

That video clip was a constant around Hill these past months.

“I literally heard it all offseason, some kind of way on YouTube shorts, because my kids stay on YouTube,’’ he said. “And I’m like, I don’t want to put that out there for my boys to see.”

So, he’s changing his ways, he said.

“I told my dad, ‘I want to see what it looks like when I focus just on football and I just focus on myself and family,’’ he said. “‘Cuz I feel like I really haven’t given the best version of me, of Tyreek, my whole entire career.

“I’ve been trying to be here, be there, but even able to slow down a little bit, train and bust my tail for myself. I’m feeling great.”

This was a good offseason for Hill. He wasn’t traded like Ramsey to improve the team’s culture. He also went months without causing any off-the-field headaches for the Dolphins. Sure, that’s a low bar. But it’s the necessary start.

The biggest headline Hill caused this spring was beating Josephus Lyles, the brother of Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles, in racing 100 meters in 10.1 seconds. His speed hasn’t left him, at 31, after nine NFL seasons. Nor has his ambition as he talked of reaching 2,000 receiving yards this year.

“I think it would be great,’’ he said. “But at the end of the day, football is all about winning games. Being there for your team in those big moments, those crucial downs like third down, and just being available, man, for my team, man.

“Two-thousand. I feel like that’s just a personal goal that I would like for myself.”

Hill is the talent every team wants, the one where the quarterback says, “Go deep,” and he can beat defenses deep. Except the offense didn’t allow that last year. The Dolphins couldn’t throw deep, for whatever reason. Solving that riddle was coach Mike McDaniel’s homework this offseason.

Hill has more fundamental tasks as camp starts Wednesday. Being on time. Respecting the team. Acting like a pro even when the day doesn’t go your way.

“I know I have to be better,’’ he said.

That’s was necessary to hear at the start of a new season. It’s who Hill wants to be on his good days. Now he just has to be that guy, day after day, for everyone to believe it.

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