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Five Things | Tyreek Hill

After adding to the offensive line, the Dolphins picked up some sizzle with the acquisition of one of the game's most electrifying players.

Miami acquired Tyreek Hill from the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for a first-round pick, second-round pick and fourth-round pick in 2022 and a fourth-round pick and sixth-round pick in 2023.

Here are five things to know about Miami's newest weapon, Tyreek Hill:

1. Pro Bowl Every Year

Six years a pro, six trips to the NFL's annual all-star game. Hill is one of the most productive receivers in NFL history. At age 28, his 6,630 receiving yards are already top 200 (176th) and just 1,531 shy of cracking the top 100. He ranks 16th in NFL history for most receiving yards through the first six years of a career.

A member of the NFL 2010's All-Decade team, Hill has 479 receptions for 6,630 yards and 56 touchdowns. He's added 719 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. His video game production has him in the pantheon of all-time receiver ranks to begin a career.

Hill's 7,349 career yards from scrimmage are the sixth-most in NFL history for a player in his first 91 games. He's made several other lists with those first 91 appearances, including his touchdown production. His 67 visits to paydirt are the third-most for a player in his first 91 contests all-time and the third-most touchdowns in the NFL since the start of the 2016 season (Todd Gurley, Derrick Henry).

2. Going Deep

"I would try and build a track team, a run-after-the-catch team with Tua."

NFL Network's Lead Draft Analyst Daniel Jeremiah felt the need for speed with the Dolphins this offseason. Enter Tyreek Hill, who's 28 touchdowns on throws of 20-or-more yards since 2016 are the most in the NFL.

Nobody has more 40-yard touchdowns since the start of 2016 than the 22 by Tyreek Hill. In fact, five players check in for second place (Robby Anderson, Tyler Lockett, DeSean Jackson, Amari Cooper and Tyrell Williams), all tied with 10 touchdowns of 40-plus.

Nobody has more 50-yard touchdowns since the start of 2016 than the 13 from Hill. and there's some cushion there, too as DeSean Jackson is second with nine.

Hill's 74 receptions of 25-yards-plus are the second-most for a player in his first career 91 games (stat tracked since 1991).

A lot of those house calls are throws over the top, but Hill has his fair share of catch-and-run touchdowns to boot. He's racked up 2,919 yards after the catch in his six-year career.

The following are his yearly yards-after-catch totals and where that number ranked in the NFL.

Table inside Article
Year Total YAC League Rank
2021 576 7th
2020 617 2nd
2019 353 19th
2018 551 3rd
2017 525 3rd
2016 297 33rd

Last year, Mike McDaniel's San Francisco 49ers had three players in the top 10 of average run-after-catch (George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel). McDaniel specifically mentioned those Niners teams finishing near the top of the league in YAC each year since he and Head Coach Kyle Shanahan arrived in 2017.

3. Learning New Tricks Six Years In

Defenses changed their approach against the 2021 Chiefs compared to years prior. They had to if they hoped to contain Hill, Patrick Mahomes and one of the most prolific offenses the NFL had ever seen.

So, Hill adapted his game, too. Facing two-high safeties at the greatest rate in the NFL over a five-year period (54.8 percent), Hill found a way to produce at the same level with a vastly different route tree.

"Pretty much every coverage he has two people on him or two people kind of shadowing over the top of him, and he's still getting himself open, making tough catches over the middle of the field," Patrick Mahomes said. "He's really evolved his game, and at the end of the day, whenever he gets into those man coverage situations ... you can always hit him over the top for touchdowns."

Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid credited Hill's work ethic as the reason he went from fifth-round draft choice from West Alabama to arguably the NFL's receiver who commands the most attention.

"When he came here, he was raw," Reid said. "He had been a running back [in college], so you could imagine. That's a big change. They flexed him out and did all that stuff, but that's kind of where he was. Every year he's gotten better. Now, he's refining all of those wide receiver skills that he's learned here, and with his talent, he's a tough one to stop.

"Normally, people have ways of trying to double him, which is a compliment to him and his ability, but he's learned to work through it. He's better in space, he's more patient against man, setting things up, so my hat goes off to him. He's worked very hard at that."

Despite the new challenge, Hill registered career-bests in receptions (111), first downs (75) and his third-best yards from scrimmage total with 1,335 in 2021.

4. The Advanced Metrics

Any way you slice it, Hill has been one of the game's most productive players. Hill ranks top 10 among all receivers since 2016 with the following statistics:

Yards per target - 9.4

Yards per route ran - 2.28

Contested catches - 41

Average depth of target - 12.0

Forced missed tackles - 87

Passer rating when targeted - 116.4

Hill does it from all over the formation, too. His snaps in 2021 were split nearly evenly between the perimeter (520) and inside the slot (508). He also has 143 snaps from the backfield in his career (snap counts provided by Pro Football Focus).

5. Miami Grand Prix

If the 4.29 40-yard dash Hill clocked in the 2016 pre-draft process didn't properly showcase his wheels, his top speeds measured by NFL Next Gen Stats should do the trick. Since 2016, Hill has appeared in the NFL's top 10 fastest top-speeds every year except 2019.

In 2016, Hill had the fastest, second-fastest and 20th-fastest miles per hour in the league. In 2017, he was on the list four times (sixth, 10th, 12th, 16th). More recently, he had the 19th-fastest speed (21.42 MPH) in 2021 and fifth-quickest miles per hour (21.91) in 2020.

The speed is just part of the athletic equation. Hill scored a 9.39 in the Relative Athletic Scorecard with elite scores (90th percentile or better) in 40-time, 20-split, 10-split, short shuttle, three-cone, vertical and broad jump. In total, Hill's workout scored 88th all-time out of 1,430 receivers who have tested at the NFL Scouting Combine or at their respective Pro Days.

Hill joins an offense with players who have, over the last two years, registered the seventh-fastest top speed in 2021 (Jaylen Waddle, 21.8 MPH), and the top two high speeds in 2020 via Raheem Mostert (23.09 and 22.73 MPH).

Coming soon to the Drive Time Podcast with Travis Wingfield, Tyreek Hill will join the show to talk about his the move to Miami, the role speed plays on a football field, and much more! Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Five Things is brought to you by Truist -- the official retail banking partner of the Miami Dolphins. When you start with care, you get a different kind of bank.

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