Davante Adams’ contract derailed Tyreek Hill extension talks with Chiefs, his agent says
For Kansas City Chiefs fans, events regarding receiver Tyreek Hill unfolded Wednesday with Cheetah-type speed.
In the span of two hours, there was a report that extension talks with the Chiefs had broken down. Then the Jets and Dolphins were viewed as potential trade partners and finally Hill was dealt to Miami on Wednesday morning.
However, Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said talks with the Chiefs actually fell apart a week ago and soon after he began to talk with other NFL teams.
The Las Vegas Raiders’ trade for Packers wide receiver Davante Adams derailed extension talks between the Chiefs and Hill. Specifically, it was the five-year, $141.25 million contract Adams received from the Raiders that ended any hope of Hill staying with the Chiefs.
“At the end of the season, I started conversations with the Chiefs on a contract extension and it really was heading in the direction of slowly but surely working out a new deal for Tyreek,” Rosenhaus said Thursday on the “Joe Rose Show With Zach Krantz” on AM 560 Sports WQAM in Miami.
“And then the Davante Adams trade got done and Adams got a record-setting contract and I immediately reviewed that contract and I spoke to the Chiefs and had a very, very positive conversation with them, that this should be the market for Tyreek. And if it wasn’t, then the right thing to do for everyone’s benefit would be for the team to have an unprecedented trade, and for Tyreek to go to a team that would be willing to make him the highest-paid receiver.”
Talks with Jets, Dolphins
Rosenhaus said he made a “cursory” call to the other 31 NFL teams to let them know Hill would be available in a trade. Quickly it became apparent the Jets and Dolphins had the most interest.
The Chiefs, Rosenhaus said, actually worked out trade terms with both teams.
Miami sent its first (29th), second (50th)- and fourth (121st or 125th)-round picks in 2022 to the Chiefs along with fourth- and sixth-round picks in 2023. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the Jets had offered their two second-round picks in this year’s draft (35th and 38th) and a third-round pick (69th) for Hill and a Chiefs third-round pick (94th or 103rd). It’s notably that the Jets didn’t offer up either of their first-round picks (No. 4 or No. 10).
“So the Chiefs were unbelievable,” Rosenhaus said. “They were first class with Tyreek all the way. And what they did is they agreed to trade terms with both the Jets and the Dolphins. And then it was up to us to decide predicated on a contract extension. So the Chiefs were unbelievable. They gave me permission to work on a trade. And they were just the best.
“It never got acrimonious. Tyreek and I spoke with (coach) Andy Reid and (general manger) Brett Veach a number of times throughout the process. And it was very united front. We were working together.”
Rosenhaus was asked if it was the norm for a team to allow an agent to work out trades with multiple teams and allow the player to seek a trade.
“No, it’s not that common but we’ve had such a great run with the Chiefs,” he said. “They were so appreciative with Tyreek, and have a good relationship with them. We worked out an extension with them three years ago for Tyreek. The bottom line is he was in the last year of his contract, we’d actually worked out a restructure that the Chiefs wanted just a week before and it really looked like we were going to just continue to work towards a contract extension.
“There was even a report that you know, we were close to a deal. That was inaccurate, but we were working on it. And then the Adams deal really flipped everything upside down. And the Chiefs, I think they had the foresight to see the Tyreek was in the last year of his contract and we weren’t going to take a deal that wasn’t better than Adams so it recognized that this would probably be their last year with Tyreek, and this was their opportunity to potentially rebuild at that position.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 9:12 AM.
