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If you haven’t lived under a rock, you’ve probably heard of it bruhaha Former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill appeared earlier this month when he said on his new podcast that Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was a more accurate passer than Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
As expected, social media was ablaze with discourse over Hill’s outlandish claims. And that wasn’t the only bombshell Hill dropped on his debut podcast.
Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, also suggested that the Chiefs intentionally suppressed Hill’s stats in 2021 to keep his price down so they could renew it at a lower dollar amount. According to Rosenhaus, this was one of the reasons Hill requested a trade. For his part, Hill denied the claims, but the fact remains that they were made by his camp.
Rosenhaus and Hill’s comments were covered by our own Pete Sweeney at the time they were made.
As our Brandon Kiley quickly mentioned on TwitterHill finished the season with 160 goals (seventh in the NFL) and 111 receptions (third in the NFL). He also finished with 10 or more goals in four of the last seven games he played as a Chiefs receiver (including the postseason). In two of the games without 10 or more goals, he played in 42% of offensive snaps or fewer.
It has to be said: the idea that head coach Andy Reid or quarterback Patrick Mahomes colluded Suppress Hill’s stats is downright absurd. The leaders have claimed they want to keep Hill until the wide receiver market explodeswhereupon they changed their plans in favor of team flexibility.
So far, Mahomes has remained silent on the matter, but that changed on Thursday afternoon. He spoke for the first time on the podium after the obligatory mini-camp on this topic.
“I’m a little surprised,” Mahomes said. “We love Tyreek here. We have always loved him and we still love him.”
Mahomes went on to say that Hill never mentioned his frustrations to him — even when the two spoke face-to-face last month.
“I spoke to him in Miami at Formula 1 in May and everything seemed fine,” said Mahomes.
Mahomes did his best to keep it classy and said Hill made these statements to generate buzz for his podcast.
“I’m sure it had to do with trying to get his podcast to work,” he said.
When asked if he thought Hill’s stats were suppressed, Mahomes defended head coach Andy Reid’s offense, saying the way the Chiefs play football isn’t focused on any one particular player.
“Tyreek is a unique player,” admitted Mahomes. “But as you know, on Coach Reid’s offense, it takes the whole team. This offensive rolled before I got here. That offense was rolling when I was a young Dallas Cowboys fan watching the Philadelphia Eagles beat up the Cowboys. It’s an offense, it’s more than a player, and that includes me.
“What I love about Tyreek is that he wants to win and I feel like with the coverage we’ve been getting. The defense was responsible for him and that’s why we had to go to other places.”
Playmakers are expected to want the ball in their hands, but as Mahomes noted, the team’s success must come before personal achievements.
“We won football games,” Mahomes remarked, “especially at the end of the season.”
As for Hill’s statements affecting Mahomes personally, the Chiefs quarterback said Hill was just trying to endear himself to a new fanbase.
“He’s trying to show he loves where he is in Miami. He loves his teammates,” he said.
Mahomes could care less about who you think is the better or more accurate quarterback — it’s all white noise to him.
“It’s none of my business,” Mahomes said. “At the end of the day, it’s all about going out and playing football. They let other people talk about who’s the best and all that other stuff.
“As long as we play football games and get points, I think I’m doing my job right. I don’t have to have the best accuracy and completion percentage in the world as long as we’re hitting touchdowns and winning Super Bowls, I’ll take it.”
As of 2018, Mahomes leads all quarterbacks in the NFL with 49 wins. The Chiefs have won six straight AFC West titles and have appeared in four straight AFC championship games.
Nobody does it better when it comes to winning, and that’s all Mahomes cares about.
