ADF Player Spotlight – Tyreek Hill

Tyreek Hill – Wide Receiver #10

Kansas City Chiefs

Height: 5-10   Weight: 185   Age: 25

Born: 3/1/1994 Lauderhill, FL

College: West Alabama

Experience: 4th season

High School: Coffee Co. HS [Douglas, GA]

The Past

Coming out of college, Tyreek Hill was known for his blazing speed and supreme athletic ability. Not having full time experience as a wide receiver, Hill was primarily used as a running back and kick return specialist. While the talent simply oozed from Hill, he couldn’t seem to get out of his own way to stay out of trouble.

Starting his college career at Garden State community college, Hill’s prolific performances earned him more publicity which had other college programs wanting to secure his services. Having seen more than enough, Oklahoma State recruited the speedy talent to come and play for their home town Cowboys. While Hill flashed that unbelievable skill once again this time on a higher level of competition, that stint was short lived as Hill was dismissed from the school due to a domestic violence situation back in 2014.

Finding ways to continue playing football, Hill managed to latch onto West Alabama for the 2015 season to keep his NFL dream alive. Not showing the greatest of effort with the Tigers, an uneven outlook was the final product as Hill chose to enter the 2016 NFL draft. With most scouts highlighted all the red flags attached to his off field issues, many teams still had interest in the young man based purely on skill. While stature has always been a concern for making it to the next level, no one could deny the ability he possessed.

In finding great fortune amidst many believing Hill’s name wouldn’t be called on draft weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs and Coach Andy Reid took a shot to provide a second chance for the potential star. Being selected in the fifth round of that 2016 NFL draft, Coach Reid felt he had something special on his hands. Having started his rookie season as the teams primary kick returner, it became clear that adding him to the offense as a fixed piece would only benefit the team. As the season wore on, Hill saw his playing time increase and his statistics rise.

Having seen more than enough as a rookie, Andy Reid was confident that he could turn Hill into the team’s number one wide receiver. Having put up solid numbers with Alex Smith in 2017, the belief of what could become transpired when Patrick Mahomes took over as the Chiefs signal caller. Last season Hill proved he was worth the price of admission racking up a whopping 87 receptions, for 1479 yards, and 12 touchdowns. What could only be described as a magical conjunction with the strong armed Mahomes, Hill was on his way to receiving a monster pay day and the prospects of Kansas City continuing to be the league’s best offense was real.

The Future

The Kansas City Chiefs feel short of their ultimate goal of reaching the Super Bowl while losing to the New England Patriots, but had much positivity entering 2019 after a very successful campaign. While the coaching staff and front office geared up for offseason workouts and the NFL draft, the gauntlet dropped when news reports broke about their star pass catcher.

With his past being quite clear, Hill once again saw himself on the wrong end of the spotlight being accused of abuse this time toward his three year old son. While reports suggested Hill was the orchestrater of all infliction's suffered by his son, investigators kept the situation low as they attempted to obtain plausible evidence. As it stands today, nothing concrete has been proven to charge and hold Hill on any of these chargers leaving the public to judge for themselves.

While it’s clear that we haven’t heard the last of this state of affairs, Kansas City has chosen the path forward and has allowed Hill to participate in offseason activities. Even as the future of Hill remains uncertain, the Chiefs chose to hedge their bets and drafted a player with vastly similar skillsets in Mecole Hardman. Now that the Hill situation could become an afterthought with no evidence implicating him of any wrong doing (for the time being), the Chiefs could in fact have gained an edge and gotten better on offense.

For all those who follow the game closely, we understand that the NFL governs to its own brand and will absolutely punish Hill with some form of suspension. Needless to say, the Tyreek Hill saga won’t see resolution until perhaps the start of preseason.     

The Outlook & Fantasy Impact

In terms of skillset, not one person can question the ability Hill possesses and wouldn’t think twice about adding him to their roster before this offseason altered their decision. The way in which the Chiefs offense is constructed, it’s become difficult to imagine any type of significant drop off in terms of productivity. While losing Kareem Hunt last season to his own level of indiscretion could limit the aptitude in the run attack, Patrick Mahomes will surly lift his game to the next level.

If Hill begins the season without any suspension served, the Chiefs will pick up where they left off and be no worse for wear. However, that optimistic thinking should be viewed as fool’s gold simply because we know that Commissioner Roger Goodell likes to flex his muscle. Having handed out suspensions for lesser infractions to other players, we truly feel that Hill will miss at least the first four contests of the season.  

With fantasy draft season right around the corner, many continue to speculate on where to snag Hill off the board. Seeing his average draft position hover anywhere from the mid 40’s to the mid 60’s, its clear many don’t have much confidence or are afraid to take the plunge. Strictly for argument sake, Hill was the best receiver for standard leagues while finishing as the third best producer in point per reception formats. Falling just 5.5 points shy of tying DeAndre Hopkins for top spot, Hill would still have fantastic value.

If Hill was to miss the first four games, last year’s 20.5 average points per game would still allow him to reach 246 total points for 12 games played. That production would place him around the top 13 fantasy earners for wide receivers, while his services could be obtained in the fifth or sixth rounds. High return on investment will be the value marker if your team can hold out for the first quarter of the season. Very high risk to high reward does exist for our evaluation of Hill in 2019, but keeping out of trouble will be the ultimate concern.

While we don’t condone anything that Hill has done in the past or is being accused of today, in terms of statistical achievements and fantasy football production, Hill should again produce without any question if and when he’s allowed to play.