Midway through the 2021 season, Tyreek Hill realized that he wouldn't be long for Kansas City, the city where he became a world champion and one of the NFL's brightest stars.
A lack of targets, Hill said, was one of the main things that fueled his desire to leave town after six highly-productive seasons. Hill was ultimately traded to Miami, where he has gotten the lion's share of the targets inside Mike McDaniel's offense. Hill, who has been targeted 139 times through 13 games, is 11 catches shy from matching last year's career-high of 111 grabs during his final year in Kansas City.
"[There'd] be some games where I'd get two targets, I'd get three targets. We'd go into meetings and my coach would be like, 'We've got to get you involved, we've got to get you involved,'" Hill said on Club Shay Shay with Shannon Sharpe (h/t Pro Football Talk). "So I'm calling my agent, every week after they say some crazy stuff like that like, 'Bro, I've got to get out of here.'"
Despite his frustration over his lack of targets, Hill said he expressed his desire with stay with coach Andy Reid if he and the Chiefs could agree on a contract. While the two sides saw eye-to-eye on Hill's potential annual salary, Hill was unimpressed with the amount of guaranteed money the Chiefs offered.
Conversely, the Dolphins offered a contract Hill said he simply couldn't turn down. Miami's four-year contract extension included $72 million guaranteed.
"With no state income tax, I'm basically living in my house for free right now," Hill said.
Hill's camp did give Kansas City a chance to match Miami's offer, but the Chiefs declined to do so and instead worked out a deal with Miami that included five draft picks in exchange for Hill.
"That really goes to show how valuable I am to them as opposed to how valuable I could be to Miami," Hill said. "So here I am today."
It seems that the trade has worked out for all parties involved. Hill got his desired contract and currently leads the NFL with 100 receptions. He's helped put Miami (8-5) in position to snap its six-year playoff drought.
Kansas City (10-3) has continued to roll without Hill. The Chiefs offense is currently second in the NFL in scoring and has enjoyed an MVP-caliber year from Patrick Mahomes, who leads the NFL with 4,160 passing yards and 33 touchdown passes.
Hill stressed that he harbors no ill will towards the Chiefs, who selected him with the 165th overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. That being said, Hill did offer a warning to his former team in the event that the Dolphins and Chiefs face each other in the playoffs.
"I still got love for all of them boys," Hill said. "But if we do see them, it's showtime. They better have two people on me, that's all I know. The Cheetah will be arriving."