Tyreek Hill and Patrick Mahomes will be loosely linked for the rest of their careers, largely because Hill made the surprising decision to leave Mahomes behind as a free agent in 2022 to play for the Miami Dolphins. This year, the pseudo-rivalry between former teammates was rewritten when Hill passed Mahomes on the fourteenth annual NFL Top 100 list. The timing of Mahomes’ slide in the poll, from No. 1 in 2023 to No. 4 in 2024, is curious given Kansas City’s Super Bowl victory last February. Still, the former Chief certainly has the qualifications to top a list of this magnitude. It’s not an overly complicated case.
The problem is that when Hill was given the floor to make his case for why he deserved to top the NFL Top 100 list, he didn’t seem to have those arguments ready. In fact, the headline of this article, which states that Hill “breaks down” why he’s better than Patrick Mahomes, is a colossal misnomer, because Hill barely offered any defenses for himself and his place atop the NFL Top 100 list. Instead, Hill seemed to focus on reminding Kay Adams and viewers of the The Up & Adams Show how small he was.
“Are you a better player than Patrick Mahomes?” Adams asked Hill.
“Yeah, definitely, I am him,” Hill replied, to which Adams asked what the argument was for Hill over Mahomes.
“My argument is you have to look at it this way: Pat is great, he’s obviously great for his team, you hear me? They won two Super Bowls in a row, they did their thing, right? Look at me, two consecutive 1700 (yards), Pro Bowl, All-Pro, this, that, consistency, all that, man, you hear me? I’m doing this at 5’8, 5’9. I’m going to call myself smaller now, 5’7, about 190, come on, man. A lot of people said I couldn’t be a receiver, and I’m doing this. I’m giving hope to all the little kings out there, hope to all the little kings around the world.”
Tyreek Hill could have easily touted his historic 2023 season and mentioned that it came on the heels of a 2022 season in which he was 95 percent as effective as he was in 2023. Hill could have noted that if not for the season-ending injuries, he could have become the NFL’s first 2,000-yard receiver. He could have pointed out that Patrick Mahomes arguably had the worst season of his career statistically in 2023 and that it was the Chris Jones-led defense that carried Kansas City for much of the season. But sure, the short-kings approach probably works, too.
Tyreek Hill wants to lead the Dolphins into Chiefs territory
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Tyreek Hill is now one of the highest-paid non-quarterbacks in the NFL and has been voted the best player in the league by his peers. He is committed to doing whatever it takes to help the Dolphins make the leap from regular-season contention to becoming a serious postseason contender. In each of the last two seasons, the Dolphins have slacked off at the end of the year and were eliminated from the playoffs in the Wild Card Round, last year facing the Chiefs in frigid Kansas City.
Hill enters his third season with the Dolphins and is no longer willing to settle for minimal postseason success in favor of a record-breaking regular season. That’s especially true considering the Chiefs have won two straight Super Bowls since Hill left Kansas City. But don’t be fooled: Whether he’s in Miami or Kansas City, a Super Bowl winner or a 2,000-yard record holder, Tyreek Hill remains confident in his status in the league.
“I’m Big Cheetah,” Hill told Kay Adams, “I’m number one in the NFL and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
