Henry McKenna
NFL reporter
If there was anybody who wished to avoid wasting the Miami Dolphins offense, it needed to be Tyreek Hill.
Tua Tagovailoa went on IR with a concussion. That was the time for Hill and, to a lesser extent, Jaylen Waddle to get this offense due to Tua’s harm. Because, prefer it or not, Tagovailoa was completely coming again. And he wished to get to the playoffs.
But now we have seen what occurred in Miami.
Hill is having a pedestrian season. And so it is no shock that the Dolphins are 2-6. Their playoff likelihood has dropped to 4%. Miami’s season is lifeless. The Dolphins had been no takers on the commerce deadline, and now the entrance workplace should determine what to do with this crew in 2025.
Nothing labored on offense in 2024, earlier than and after Tua’s concussion.
That’s to not say Tagovailoa’s IR stint did not influence Miami’s season. He did it. But the return of QB1 did not proper the ship. The Dolphins had been 1-1 with Tua to start out the season, then 1-3 with out him. But since his return they’re 0-2, placing them at 2-6 on the season.
Once once more, the shocking fixed: Tyreek Hill’s stats have been… good.
We all understand how unhealthy Miami’s offense is with out Tua. In current years, his concussion-related absences have led to very large issues.
Since 2022, with Tagovailoa at QB1, the Dolphins are 20-14 and are averaging 386.2 complete internet yards per sport and 279.1 passing yards per sport. Hill averaged 6.7 receptions, 100 receiving yards and 0.6 touchdowns.
Without Tagovailoa since 2022, the Dolphins are 2-6 and are averaging 310.8 complete internet yards per sport and 204.8 passing yards per sport. Hill averaged 5.6 receptions, 69 yards and nil touchdowns.
This time the drop was rapid. Hill led the crew with simply 40 dashing yards in Week 3, Tagovailoa’s first highway sport, a 24-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
“Give the Seahawks credit score, they did some issues to attempt to nullify it,” coach Mike McDaniel stated after the sport. “But this crew wants him. He was ready. He was prepared. He had the vitality. So, we’ve got to do a greater job getting him the ball.”
It was uncommon to see Hill step up the offense in Tagovailoa’s absence. And there is a case to be made, Hill Should be capable of elevate the crime.
Over the years, it has been a combined bag for stars who’ve gotten manufacturing — to not point out wins — with out their greatest QB. Calvin Johnson earned the nickname “Megatron” for a motive. The Lions posted 1,120 yards and 12 touchdowns on the season, when backup QBs Shaun Hill and Drew Stanton had been the starters for 13 video games.
Larry Fitzgerald by no means appeared to care which quarterback served him the ball in Arizona. In a season by which Blaine Gabbert and Stanton began 9 video games, Fitzgerald posted 1,156 yards and 6 touchdowns. In 2011, Fitzgerald had 1,411 yards and eight touchdowns, fueled by Kevin Kolb and John Skelton.
Larry Fitzgerald put up huge numbers irrespective of who threw him the ball. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
In that horrible 2011 season, when the Colts did not have Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne nonetheless managed 75 receptions for 960 yards and 4 touchdowns.
This yr, Tyreek Hill has made 34 receptions for 446 yards and one landing, which implies he is on tempo for 72 receptions, 948 receiving yards and two touchdowns, fewer than Wayne did with Curtis Painter in a sport in much less.
The level is, if Hill had been really a generational expertise, he would doubtless suppress the offense, even within the absence of his quarterback. But traditionally it hasn’t.
This raises the query of whether or not Hill is 1) as transcendent as we thought, or 2) at 30, merely getting old out of his prime.
The most regarding signal was that after Tagovailoa returned, we did not see Hill’s numbers enhance. In Tua’s first sport again, Hill made six receptions for 72 yards in a 28-27 loss to the Cardinals. He was seen screaming on the sideline close to McDaniel.
“I’m at a degree in my life and my profession the place a very powerful factor is to win video games, and I really feel like that makes up who I’m: the individual, the participant, all of that,” he stated a couple of days after the match . “I could not care much less: if the statistics come, they arrive.”
McDaniel argued that Hill’s contributions are displaying up elsewhere, too. In that very same Cardinals sport (when, as soon as once more, Hill gave the impression to be upset on the sideline), McDaniel effusively praised Hill.
“I believe it was one in every of my favourite video games that Tyreek has performed since I’ve been right here,” he stated. “And there’s lots of video games the place he had lots of numbers, however what you ask of one in every of your greatest gamers, enjoying with and with out the ball, he was a high-impact participant. He threw a few of the greatest blocks.”
Has he achieved it now?
And is that why the Dolphins signed their 5-foot-1, 190-pound receiver to a three-year, $90 million contract?
To block?
It’s commonplace for coaches to reward the receiver’s blocking and his means to open doorways for different gamers. But that is not what the Dolphins want Hill to do. They want him to hit doubles, which he has traditionally achieved in staggering occasions (which is why he’s — or was? — particular sufficient to make $30 million a yr).
Hill’s struggles are spreading all through the offense. Waddle can also be on tempo to have the worst season of his profession with simply 28 receptions, 310 receiving yards and one landing. The Dolphins try and failing to run their passing assault by a 3rd possibility, usually their operating backs and tight ends Jonnu Smith.
Even if Hill and Waddle pulled their manufacturing out of the hunch, it would not matter a lot. They did not present up when it mattered this season. They put themselves in an inevitable gap. The solely comfort is that, if each gamers return to elite type, there’s at all times subsequent yr. It’s in all probability a small comfort. But it is higher than the choice.
The Dolphins would have big issues if the offense stayed like this for the remainder of the yr. If Miami stays mediocre – partly resulting from its underperforming receivers – then the Dolphins will discover themselves in hassle. They are holding out this core – Tagovailoa, Hill and Waddle – till 2026 in spite of everything three signed extensions this yr. If the offense cannot get again to the stellar protection it was in early 2023, then McDaniel is probably not the coach in 2025.
Hill’s fall from greatness did not simply play a job within the Dolphins’ failed season. It casts doubt on Miami’s future imaginative and prescient.
Before becoming a member of FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years overlaying the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.
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