Getty Kansas City Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill
The NFL decided Kansas City Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill’s future on Friday. They released a statement which explained that the 25-year-old wideout will not be suspended following an investigation into child abuse allegations against him.
As the Chiefs revealed on their official website, the league said they conducted a “comprehensive investigation” of the allegations. In the statement, the NFL explained that police revealed evidence does not explain who caused injuries to Hill’s son.
Local law enforcement authorities have publicly advised that the available evidence does not permit them to determine who caused the child’s injuries.
Similarly, based on the evidence presently available, the NFL cannot conclude that Mr. Hill violated the Personal Conduct Policy. Accordingly, he may attend Kansas City’s training camp and participate in all club activities. He has been and will continue to be subject to conditions set forth by the District Court, Commissioner Goodell, and the Chiefs, which include clinical evaluation and therapeutic intervention.
Following the league’s decision, we’re going to evaluate the fantasy football outlook for Hill along with Chiefs second-round pick Mecole Hardman. While there was initially a suspension expected for Hill, this will drastically change his projections.
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Tyreek Hill Fantasy Football Projections After Non-Suspension
It’s noteworthy just how low Hill was in many rankings prior to this news. FantasyPros had the Chiefs star listed as the No. 41 overall wide receiver in point-per-reception (PPR) leagues. This placed him behind the likes of Mike Williams, Corey Davis and Dante Pettis.
With the expectation that Hill will be available to play from Week 1 on, it now makes him one of the top wide receivers on the board. He’ll jump from far down the list of wideouts to somewhere inside of the top-10 and is realistically a second or third-round pick at the latest.
Based on the FantasyPros list, I believe Hill lands around No. 7 or 8, where Antonio Brown and Mike Evans currently sit. This leaves him above Keenan Allen, T.Y. Hilton and A.J. Green. Hill could be arguably even higher than that, as JuJu Smith-Schuster is just ahead of him. Regardless, I would feel comfortable taking him within the first two rounds of a 12-team league.
Mecole Hardman Fantasy Impact
For any fantasy football players who had an early draft opted to take rookie wideout Mecole Hardman with the expectation that Hill would be suspended, this news impacts his outlook quite a bit. With that said, the former Georgia Bulldog was listed by FantasyPros as the No. 73 receiver, behind Quincy Enunwa, Parris Campbell, Tre’Quan Smith and Marqise Lee.
The bad news for fantasy owners is that Hardman isn’t going to receive work as the No. 1 wide receiver in Kansas City as many expected. But the good news is that Hill being in the lineup will only help in terms of his matchups. Hardman will now face a worse cornerback on virtually every snap and if the Chiefs throw as often as they did last year, he still has plenty of upside.
I’d still take Hardman around the 70-80 range for receivers, but that leaves him as a late-round flier in most 12-team leagues. The popular consensus will likely leave Hardman as a round 14 or 15 selection, but I’d be willing to jump up to somewhere in the mid-to-late range of round 13.
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