Tyreek Hill is having a career year. So what? The Chiefs are better after trading him
There’s a wideout in Miami who just a week ago set an NFL record for the most receiving yards through nine games in league history. He resides 1,500 miles away, but if you live in Kansas City, just maybe you’ve heard of him.
He is out-pacing the league in almost every statistic — six more catches than any other receiver, 88 more yards, two more plays of 20-plus yards, four more first downs, and on it goes.
Who wouldn’t want that guy?
Well, the Chiefs had that guy. Traded him in the offseason for a collection of draft picks. And in his first year playing without the luxury of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, without the aid of coach Andy Reid’s offense, and no longer alongside Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill is having a career year.
Who would’ve thunk it, right? Hill was blasted during much of the offseason (though not by the Chiefs, I should point out) for how his praise of his new quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, seemed to imply he preferred him to Patrick Mahomes. So effusive was the praise that you couldn’t help but wonder if Hill was just trying to convince himself he wouldn’t regret his trade request.
Safe to say now he doesn’t.
But here’s the unique part of this story: The Chiefs don’t either. They shouldn’t care, even for a moment, about what’s happening in Miami.
What difference does it make?
The impetus behind the March trade was never about Hill being washed or even being on the downside of his career — though that remains a factor on the back end of the mega-contract extension he subsequently signed with the Dolphins. Take this from the Chiefs’ perspective, and it shouldn’t matter what is unfolding in Miami this year.
Interesting? Certainly. Relevant? Not one bit.
Hill’s trade was reflective of the Chiefs’ decision to prioritize the long-term. A decision to put their finances in position to compete for Super Bowls, without an expiration date on that ideal. A decision to spread the wealth — and therefore the talent — even if it meant biting their lip and absorbing a step back for a year.
In the end, the Chiefs are absent one the game’s top talents, but set up with money and draft capital they wouldn’t have otherwise had.
But here’s another unique part of this story, and perhaps one less frequently discussed: The Chiefs don’t even miss him this year.
Let’s underscore that part once more. The Chiefs do not miss a wide receiver who is running nearly stride-for-stride with Calvin Johnson’s 2012 year in which he broke the single-season receiving record.
They’re actually better without him, and that statement is a reflection of the collective, not the individual. Because of course Tyreek Hill would help the Chiefs’ offense. He is one of the two or three receivers in football who could most help the Chiefs’ offense.
But his departure prompted a change in Kansas City, a new big-picture strategy that would enhance the smaller details of the offense and force necessary change. In response to the trade that sent Hill to South Beach, the Chiefs looked not for a like-for-like replacement but rather at an opportunity to self-evaluate their wide receiver room. What came back wasn’t that they needed a new No. 1 wide receiver; rather, they needed to get better at Nos. 2-5.
The aftermath left just one player in that room from the year before, Mecole Hardman, surrounded by a bevy of newcomers: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Justin Watson, rookie Skyy Moore and now even immediate-impact Kadarius Toney.
The Chiefs are worse at No. 1.
But undoubtedly more diverse throughout.
Just look at the result. They lead the NFL in points per game. Second in yards. First in passing. Still sitting atop the AFC all alone, with a chance to put a stranglehold on the AFC West division once more if they can win in Los Angeles Sunday night.
“We understand how great Tyreek is. I think people see that now in Miami even more than they saw it here — how special of a player he is,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “But in this offense, it’s about everybody.”
With Hill in Miami, where he is just 30 receptions shy of the 111 he caught last year to set a franchise record in Kansas City, the Chiefs are scoring more points per drive than they did a year ago. That’s in a season in which scoring is down across the entire NFL.
Not here. The Chiefs are at 2.87 points per drive (0.22 better than second-place Buffalo), up from 2.81 in 2021. Their offensive drive success rate (DSR) is 79.6%, which is 2.3% better than any other team this season and better than their own 2021 mark, per Football Outsiders.
That’s not cherry-picking statistics — these are the numbers most fundamental to the output or, in some cases, the output.
Oh, and, let’s not forget the quarterback. Hill led all Chiefs wideouts in yards in each of Mahomes’ initial four seasons as a starter in Kansas City. You’d think Mahomes’ numbers would dip without his No. 1 receiver, right?
Instead, he leads the NFL in yards and touchdowns, and he’s the Vegas favorite to win the Most Valuable Player award. In fact, in a couple of sportsbooks, he’s already favored over the entirety of the field. Mahomes is on pace for 5,545 passing yards, which, aided by the addition of the league’s 17th game, would surpass the record of 5,477 that Peyton Manning set with the Denver Broncos in 2013.
Consider the oddity of it. Mahomes and Hill are pacing toward yardage records at their respective positions.
Separately.
On an individual level, what could be more telling of their own worth than what they have done without each other?
For four years, they were in harmony, a marriage that produced the most famous play from Super Bowl LIV, All-Pro and MVP seasons and significant paydays. They were considered among the very best at their positions.
Together.
That seemed a key in all of it. The union.
Turns out, after a summer debating which side would regret the trade, instead the conclusion should be a third option.
Neither.