KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The flirtation between receiver Tyreek Hill and the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs didn’t take lengthy.
Hill, who started his NFL profession with the Chiefs, grew to become an unrestricted free agent for the primary time in 10 years final Monday when the Miami Dolphins launched him as a part of a collection of strikes to create wage cap area. The choice from the Dolphins allow them to to avoid wasting $22.8 million. By early that night, Chiefs cross rusher Chris Jones, had used his X account to ship Hill, his teammate with the Chiefs for six seasons, a message that anybody on the social media web site may see. He tagged Hill’s account and used the alarm clock emoji to point that it was certainly time for the receiver to rejoin the Chiefs.
Jones wasn’t the one one who expressed {that a} reunion for Hill and the Chiefs for the 2026 season can be useful to each events. A number of analysts instructed that Hill, who’s recovering from surgical procedure to restore his dislocated left knee and torn ACL that he sustained final season in Week 4, has the very best probability to reestablish himself as a participant within the league with the Chiefs.
“Not solely do they want him, he wants them,” Louis Riddick, the analyst and former NFL security, mentioned Wednesday on ESPN’s “First Take.”
In March, Hill, whose elite velocity and playmaking established him as one of many league’s finest offensive threats, will flip 32. Inside hours of being knowledgeable by the Dolphins of his launch, Hill wrote a submit on Instagram to ensure that he’ll proceed his profession with the identical stage of manufacturing that made him a star.
“The Cheetah do not decelerate. Ever,” Hill wrote. “So to everybody questioning what’s subsequent… simply wait on it. The Cheetah will likely be again…Born Once more.”
Two days later, Hill used his Snapchat account to point out that he was again in Kansas Metropolis to go to relations and to proceed his rehab. After all, Hill’s profile picture confirmed him in a Chiefs uniform.
Whereas it is unsure if Hill will likely be obtainable for the season opener, the Chiefs are anticipated to observe the progress of his restoration and coaching, in accordance with league sources.
“We undergo every little thing and everyone [in free agency],” Reid mentioned Friday. “That is how [general manager] Brett [Veach] does [it]. I am positive [Hill’s] working exhausting on that [rehab] a part of it and attempting to get all that straightened out. We discuss every little thing, so there’s nothing taking place there, however we all know he is on the market and cranking away attempting to get himself again to the place he can play.”
The Chiefs, as they’ve performed up to now, may supply Hill a one-year contract with incentives so as to add a lift to their offense — a unit that may characteristic quarterback Patrick Mahomes after he recovers from essentially the most important damage of his profession, the torn ACL and LCL in his left knee. In 2022, after the Chiefs traded Hill to the Dolphins for 5 draft picks, the crew signed veteran receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster to a one-year deal for a most of $10.75 million. The Chiefs and Hill may negotiate an identical contract, which might permit Hill to be a free agent once more subsequent 12 months with the hope of him being more healthy and his knee additional strengthened.
If each events can conform to a deal, whether or not later within the offseason or early within the season, Hill can be reunited with Mahomes, coach Andy Reid and probably tight finish Travis Kelce, who’s strongly contemplating re-signing with the crew for the 14th season in his profession, in accordance with a number of members of the Chiefs’ group..
Including extra expertise on the receiver place ought to be one of many prime priorities this offseason for Reid and Veach. Coming into this week, the Chiefs have simply 5 receivers on their roster — Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, Jalen Royals, Jason Brownlee and Jimmy Vacation.
Even when Hill can simply replicate his manufacturing from the primary month of final 12 months previous to his damage, his play will likely be an improve from what the Chiefs had on the place for a lot of their 2025 marketing campaign. Coming into Week 4 final 12 months, Hill had accounted for greater than half of the Dolphins’ air yards (53.5%), and his three deep receptions — 20 air yards or extra — nearly matched his whole from the earlier season (4), in accordance with Subsequent Gen Stats.
“Along with his work ethic, I am not counting him out coming again and being simply as dominant as he was earlier than,” former Chiefs security Tyrann Mathieu mentioned Wednesday of Hill on his “In The Bayou” podcast. “The subsequent neatest thing for him to do is to discover a quarterback and an offensive coordinator that likes him, that appreciates his abilities, his presents.
“I am positive lots of people are going to speak about Ok.C. Basically, me and him left the Chiefs on the similar time [in 2022]. … I do know lots of people are going to throw his identify within the hat so far as linking again up with Mahomes, which I do not rely that out.”
Since Hill was traded to the Dolphins, the Chiefs’ offense hasn’t been as explosive because it was up to now. In actual fact, Kansas Metropolis has not had a 1,000-yard receiver since 2021 — and that participant was Hill.
“Given the blokes that they’ve on the roster now, he may be the particular person to form of carry these guys’ play,” Mathieu mentioned of Hill. “One among issues that impressed me most with Tyreek was he was similar to me. He [doesn’t] miss observe, he’ll take all his reps, he [doesn’t] miss no video games.
“Given what the Chiefs have skilled the final three years on the receiver place, he stands out as the next-best trainer for them.”