Why the KC Chiefs’ passing game will be reinvigorated by trade of Tyreek Hill to Miami
Between his absurd speed and relentless antics, Tyreek Hill was an enthralling presence for the Kansas City Chiefs. Not to mention essential to their emergence in the elite tier of the NFL the last several seasons.
With 479 receptions in six seasons and dozens of indelible highlights, including the crucial Jet Chip Wasp play in Super Bowl LIV, he has been on a trajectory toward the Pro Football Hall of Fame because of the unique chemistry and dynamics among himself, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
But when salary negotiations gridlocked amid Hill’s apparent wish to be the highest-paid receiver in the NFL, the Chiefs indulged him by trading him to Miami, which signed him to a four-year, $120 million deal.
So despite the five draft picks the Chiefs got in return (three for 2022), and despite the bizarre contentions on his new podcast that he somehow was underutilized here (Hill was targeted 159 times and had 111 receptions last season) and silly teasing to whether they actively tried to suppress him, the Chiefs surely would have preferred to still have him.
In the fog of the momentous trade, it was hard to fully appreciate any immediate upside to go with the obvious long-term benefits of giving the Chiefs more financial flexibility and making them younger to extend the viability of the Mahomes Era.
But the near-term merits of the deal are coming more into focus now as the Chiefs continue offseason workout programs this week. And for a number of reasons, our hunch is that Hill is going to miss playing with Mahomes (and the Chiefs) way more than Mahomes is going to miss the 28-year-old Hill as the Chiefs embark on a key pivot point.
The Andy Reid-led Chiefs audit and self-scout and tweak their offense every year, of course, and not merely with such memorable concepts as “Hungry Pig Right” or “Rose Bowl Right Parade” but in many more nuanced points of leveraging for what amounts to matchup advantages.
Even as they advanced to a fourth straight AFC Championship Game, though, the offense was being locked down too often and too long last season — and never more dramatically than in the collapse against the Bengals in the 27-24 overtime loss with a third Super Bowl berth in their grasp.
There’s a thin line between the grooves and ruts of continuity. And something got stale and predictable, at least to the advanced eyes of NFL defensive coordinators.
So much so that there was a compelling case for a fundamental reset of voice or personnel or emphasis or some combination thereof.
Certainly, it became something more than the annual rite.
We found it telling that as third-year running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire talked about a shift in the offense, he said, “It’s not the same thing (other teams) have been seeing the last six years” — an apparent reference to Hill’s tenure with the Chiefs.
Not the same thing is a good thing.
The massive personnel changes in the passing game, offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy said, “forces us to go back … to the foundation.” Or as receivers coach Joe Bleymaier put it: “Starting from scratch.”
If not quite a reinvention, there needed to be true reinvigoration from an offense in which nearly 50% of all pass completions by quarterbacks (203 of 447) last regular season went to Hill and Kelce.
That trend became all the more pronounced in the crucible of tight postseason games with Buffalo and the Bengals: Against the Bills, 19 of Mahomes’ 33 completions went to Hill and Kelce; against Cincinnati, it was 17 of 26.
Never mind that those might be delivered any number of ways via Mahomes’ resourcefulness and Reid’s vast playbook.
Preferable as those options might be, it also was because the Chiefs lacked the faith, or the pieces, to seek to further engage more of the rest of the offense.
So Hill’s departure makes for a fresh chance to go from too two-dimensional to three-or-more dimensional.
Whether that comes to pass or not, safe to say what we’ll see this season will be contoured to a more diverse attack in a radically realigned receiving corps.
“Everybody presents something different,” as Bieniemy put it. And “it’s going to be everybody,” Mahomes said.
While Kelce still will be a focal point and incumbent speedster Mecole Hardman has improved every year and may be ready for a true breakout season, the core group also will be headlined by free-agent signees Marquez Valdes-Scantling (17.5 yards a reception in four years with Green Bay) and former Steeler JuJu Smith-Schuster, who missed much of last season with a shoulder injury but had 97 catches in 2020 and 111 in 2018.
Then there’s rookie Skyy Moore, the 54th pick overall, who along with defensive back Trent McDuffie (21st overall) was acquired via deployment of the three 2022 picks from the Dolphins for Hill.
Also around them are an intriguing group that includes rookie Justyn Ross and veteran Josh Gordon trying to recapture the form that made him among the best in the NFL … in 2013.
All of which means the Chiefs generally will be deploying bigger targets in various ways around the field. That basic notion is part of why Reid recently said a few aspects of the offense are being “dusted” off.
When I asked him last week about how much farther back he’s going than usual, Reid smiled and said, “We bring some stuff back. We bring some stuff out of the sky. We’ll take any of your plays, doggonit.”
Doubt he’ll have to stoop to that last part.
Because between the sweeping shift in personnel that means so much to be installed and taught and the return of Matt Nagy as quarterbacks coach, the Chiefs are unlikely to appear stagnant now.
In fact, despite Mahomes’ informal receiving camp in Texas, there’s so much flux that it might take several games for this to really start to jell.
But no matter how much they might like to have kept Hill, we figure the Chiefs soon will be better off for the reboot.
Because of the fresh parts. But also the sum of the parts and what that implies.
“I think that if it gets spread around a little bit,” Reid said, “I think it’s the best that you can do.”
This story was originally published June 13, 2022 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Why the KC Chiefs’ passing game will be reinvigorated by trade of Tyreek Hill to Miami."