Getty Former Baltimore Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith defends a pass against former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill in 2021.
The Kansas City Chiefs‘ blockbuster trade of Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins sent shockwaves through the NFL in March as one of several major wide receiver trades to happen this offseason.
As it turns out, the Baltimore Ravens played a role in Hill’s departure from Kansas City. The All-Pro receiver recently revealed on the debut episode of his podcast that a Week 2 loss in Baltimore was the beginning of the end of his time with the Chiefs.
“Baltimore Ravens, I had three catches for 14 yards. Crazy, right?” said Hill, lamenting his lack of targets (four) and overall impact on the game after a 197-yard outburst in the Chiefs’ Week 1 victory over the Cleveland Browns.
“I just don’t get it,” continued Hill, arguing that the Chiefs’ gameplan against the Ravens didn’t let Hill exploit “favorable one-on-one matchups.”
Those matchups came mostly against Marlon Humphrey and Anthony Averett, the latter of whom was starting in place of an injured Marcus Peters. Both players held up well, limiting Hill to his worst statistical performance of the season.
Anthony Averett one on one against Tyreek Hill in the slot?
No problem. Blanketed.
“That’s where me and the Chiefs fell apart,” said Hill, so the Ravens can take solace in the fact that Baltimore played a minor role in a rival team losing a star player.
Hill-Hollywood Brown Similarities
But Hill’s criticism about his utilization will likely sound all-too-familiar to Ravens fans, who have heard plenty of complaints from Hollywood Brown about his deployment in Baltimore’s offense.
Brown has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with the Ravens’ offensive scheme since being traded, though analysts like Warren Sharp have pointed out Brown’s heavy involvement in Baltimore’s air attack.
Hill’s comments – and that of his agent, Drew Rosenhaus – follow a similarly confusing line of thinking when taken in context with Hill’s 2021 statistics.
“There was a lot of times during the year that we felt like Tyreek was underutilized and wasn’t fully appreciated,” Rosenhaus said on the podcast. “They really weren’t taking full advantage of all his ability and talent.”
But in 2021, Hill finished with the third-most receptions (111) on the seventh-most targets (159) in the NFL, and his 711 routes ran were the fifth-highest in the league, per Pro Football Focus.
Those statistics do not reflect a player who is “underutilized,” as Hill and his agent claim, but perhaps he is angling for a Deebo Samuel-esque workload under Mike McDaniels in Miami.