After Tua Tagovailoa said his star receiver needed to rebuild trust, Tyreek Hill explained why he agreed with the message at Dolphins camp.
When Miami Dolphins training camp opened, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa didn’t hold back on where things stood between him and star wide receiver Tyreek Hill.
At the end of last season, Hill caused a stir on social media when he suggested he wanted to be traded from Miami — comments he later walked back. Tagovailoa responded on the first day of camp by acknowledging that the relationship with his WR1 still needed work.
“We’re still continuing to do that, but it’s not just with me, it’s with a lot of the guys,” Tagovailoa said, via Pro Football Talk. “I’m not the only one that heard that. You guys aren’t the only people that heard that. A lot of people that follow football, that follow the Miami Dolphins, that follow Tyreek, that are fans of his, everyone has seen that. So when you say something like that, you don’t just come back from that with, ‘Hey, my bad.’ You’ve got to work that relationship up, you’ve got to build everything up again. It’s still a work in progress, not just for me but for everybody. But like I said, he’s working on himself, he’s working on the things he says he wants to get better with and do better on. So that’s the first step to me so I commend him for doing that.”
On Friday, Hill addressed Tagovailoa’s comments and made it clear he appreciated his quarterback’s honesty.
“I think Tua’s comments were needed,” Hill said. “He’s obviously the leader on our team, so he sets the standard. I’m just trying to be the best teammate, best version of myself I can be, man, every day.”
Tagovailoa later emphasized that his comments weren’t about calling out Hill, but about maintaining the team's standard.
“I don’t feel it’s me talking bad about my teammate,” Tagovailoa said on NFL Network. “I’m just trying to hold him accountable, because that’s what we try to do with everyone on our team. And if this is what we say the standard is, that’s what the standard is, and no one is exempt from it.”
According to NFL reporter Cameron Wolfe, Hill is already making progress. He’s taking notes for the first time in his career and finally feels he fully understands Mike McDaniel’s offense.
For the Dolphins to quiet doubters this season, the Tagovailoa-Hill connection — both on and off the field — has to click. Miami’s success may ride on that chemistry being stronger than ever.
Category: Football
