Tyreek Hill is the NFL player who has supported Tua Tagovailoa the most since they became teammates in 2022. The five-time All-Pro receiver recently took his campaign to ESPN, urging the two players to obtain contract extensions this summer.
In several appearances on the national sports network, Hill advocated for his quarterback to sign a deal that would place him among the highest-paid players in the NFL while urging the Miami Dolphins to “make room for me” in the contract.
Regarding the two seasons he played with Tagovailoa in Miami—two successful campaigns that ended in first-round playoff defeats—Hill remarked, “From Tua’s development to where he’s come from to where is now, that should speak volumes to people.”
Only Tagovailoa and Brock Purdy of San Francisco are quarterbacks who have produced consecutive seasons with a passer rating of 100 or above in 2022 and 2023.
In 2022, despite missing four games during the regular season and Miami’s playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills due to concussions, Tagovailoa led the NFL in passer rating (105.5).
And in 2023, Tagovailoa became the first player from the Dolphins to lead the league in passing yards (4,624) and lead the NFL’s top-ranked offense (since Dan Marino in 1992).
“A lot of people will say he has receivers X, Y, and Z and coach (Mike) McDaniel calling plays, but at the end of the day, you still have to get those playmakers the ball.” Knowing that you have monster defensive ends coming off the edge wanting to take your head off, you have to be able to prepare each and every week with the same mindset, Hill told ESPN. “A number of factors are involved. It’s absurd, in my opinion, for people to stand here and disparage Tua by saying he doesn’t deserve a deal.
Many of the guys in the squad recognize his worth and realize how important he is to us. We require both his leadership and his way of thinking.
Dolphins would gain from extensions.
Pro Bowl cornerback Xavien Howard was released by the Dolphins this offseason, giving them about $16 million in cap room. However, the cap space would likely increase rather than decrease if Tagovailoa and Hill were to sign contracts.
If the signing bonuses are large, the Dolphins could sign Hill and Tagovailoa to multiyear deals, freeing up more than $20 million in salary space and perhaps carrying over a $36 million surplus into the following season. That’s even if their contracts individually have pace-setting clauses.
In order to maintain his position among the NFL’s highest-paid quarterbacks, alongside Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, and Jalen Hurts, Tagovailoa and his camp are attempting to negotiate a multiyear contract. Tagovailoa, who is owed $23.1 million this season due to the team’s activation of the fifth-year option on his rookie deal from the previous year, is pushing for a multiyear deal. Fifth overall in the 2020 Draft, Tagovailoa was selected.
The NFL has contracts worth an average of $50 million or more per season for seven quarterbacks: Hurts ($51 million), Burrow ($55 million), Patrick Mahomes ($52.6 million), Herbert ($52.5 million), Lamar Jackson ($52 million), Trevor Lawrence ($55 million), and Hurts ($53 million). Tagovailoa’s camp is determined to make him the eighth.
Though they started in the spring, the negotiations haven’t gone well, and with one week remaining before training camp opens on July 24, no agreement has been reached. It’s also possible that Tagovailoa will hold out and conduct a hold-in, which would entail a fine of $50,000 every day.
Similar to Christian Wilkins, who was ultimately forced to play in his fifth-year option after missing the last three weeks of training camp due to his inability to reach an extension with the Dolphins, Tagovailoa would report for work there, avoiding the fines, but limiting his participation. The most recent CBA deal increased the daily fines from $30,000 to $50,000, but it also altered the wording to let players to report to training camp without incurring any financial penalties.
In an effort to reach a compromise with McDaniel—who is aware of the negotiations but has refrained from getting involved in order to preserve their player-coach relationship—Tagovailoa missed all of Miami’s 11-on-11 practice during the offseason program and participated solely in 7-on-7 drills. It’s probable that Tagovailoa may continue in this manner during training camp until an agreement is reached.
Does Hill deserve a pay increase?
It’s probable that Hill, whose representative has been in talks with the Dolphins for months about renegotiating his deal, is also a camp hold-in. Even though Hill will make $19.6 million this season, the remaining $120 million of the four-year contract extension he signed with Miami in 2022 is guaranteed, and players of his caliber don’t usually play without money guaranteed for the future.
The recently-30-year-old Hill is scheduled to make $22.9 million in 2025, but his 2026 salary of $45 million is probably not going to be paid because that inflated amount was merely included in the pact to artificially boost his annual earnings to $30 million, which at the time set an NFL record. But in reality, the Dolphins have paid Hill $23.9 million a season.
As the first receiver in NFL history to have back-to-back seasons with 1,700 receiving yards, Hill told ESPN he’s thrilled about the way the receiver market is “blowing up,” primarily because he believes it will result in a larger salary for the eight-time Pro Bowler.
“Having control over the market at $30 million.” In reference to the five-year, $159 million contract that the Minnesota Vikings awarded Jefferson this summer, which guaranteed him $88.7 million, Hill remarked, “And now that Justin Jefferson has created a whole new wave of $35 million receivers, this is crazy.”
Jefferson’s contract technically pays $31.8 million a season on average, not the $35 million that Hill said. Unlike Hill’s contract, however, all of his will probably be earned, and there isn’t any filler in his agreement to artificially raise the average.
“I’m eager to watch where the market goes from here because there are guys who haven’t signed like Ceedee Lamb of Dallas and Ja’Marr Chase of Cincinnati,” Hill said. “Watching the league keep expanding and investing in new positions is enjoyable.”
With 10,139 receiving yards over nine seasons, Hill is 53rd all-time in receiving yards. He has made it clear that he is not required to be the highest-paid receiver in the NFL. He has acknowledged, though, that he does have to be among the most paid players in the league for his position.
Hill would rank 36th in all-time receiving yards behind Mike Evans, who is currently playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Calvin Johnson, a first ballot Hall of Famer, and Muhsin Muhammad, who spent 14 seasons playing for the Panthers and Bears, if he simply produced his career average of 1,267 receiving yards per season.
If Hill continues to produce at his current level for three more seasons, he will rank among the top 15 most productive receivers in NFL history.