Tyreek signals Dolphins exit: 'It was great playing here'

Tyreek Hill left the door wide-open for a potential exit from the Dolphins while expressing his disappointment with Miami's 2024 season.

"This is the first time I haven't been in the playoffs, so for me, I have to do what's best for me and my family, if that's here or wherever the case may be," Hill said Sunday after a 32-20 loss to the New York Jets, according to Omar Kelly of the Miami Herald.

"I'm about to open up that door for myself. I'm opening the door. I'm out. It was great playing here, but at the end of the day, I have to do what's best for my career. Because I'm too much of a competitor to be just out there."

Head coach Mike McDaniel downplayed Hill's comments.

"I'm not going to be too much weight on secondhand postgame disappointment statements," McDaniel said, according to NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe. "We will see how the next couple of days progress in convos with him and I."

"I'm not going to match emotion with emotion. ... It's a little cloudy in the heat of the moment for multiple reasons," the sideline boss added, per ESPN's Marcel Louis-Jacques. "I know that clarity will be found."

Hill's remarks follow a loss that dropped Miami to 8-9 to conclude the regular season. The Dolphins needed a win over the Jets and a Broncos loss to the Chiefs to reach the playoffs. Denver blew out an undermanned Kansas City 38-0.

Hill wasn't on the field for the fourth quarter versus New York and finished the season with 81 catches for 959 yards and six touchdowns in 17 games. He battled a wrist injury for most of the campaign but didn't miss any contests.

"I was informed he was unavailable right before a drive," McDaniel said of why Hill missed the final frame Sunday, per Wolfe. "I was not informed that it was a new injury. Focus was on players on the field."

Hill suggested McDaniel opted to bench him with the Broncos up on the Chiefs by multiple scores at the same time.

"The coach kind of pulled me out. ... Just one of those issues that you look up at the scoreboard, the Chiefs are down, and it's like, 'OK.'" Hill said, per Kelly.

He added, "There are a lot of things that I need to reassess about my career, just see what I need to do to continue to get better as a player, so I can continue to reach that 1,000-yard mark."

Hill's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said he'll talk to the wideout about his recent comments.

"That will be an internal discussion I have with Tyreek before I address that publicly," Rosenhaus said, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

Hill wasn't named a Pro Bowler for the first time in his nine NFL seasons. He led the league with 1,799 receiving yards and 13 touchdown catches in 2023.

The five-time All-Pro signed a three-year extension with Miami in August and is under contract through the 2026 season. The 30-year-old said last May that he wanted to retire as a Dolphin.

Hill established himself as one of the NFL's most explosive players while playing for the Chiefs through his first six seasons. He helped Kansas City win a Super Bowl before being traded to Miami in 2022.

Injuries were an issue for the Dolphins in 2024. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa missed four games in the season's first half due to a concussion and was also sidelined for the final two weeks with a hip issue.