Getty Former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill during his introductory press conference with the Miami Dolphins.
During the doldrums of summer, ex-Kansas City Chiefs superstar Tyreek Hill has been soaking up the headlines in Miami after dropping episodes one and two of his new podcast, “It Needed To Be Said.”
As you’d expected, “the Cheetah” started his debut show off with a bang, revealing behind-the-scenes information on the trade that sent him to the Dolphins with the help of his agent Drew Rosenhaus. The complaints centered around the Chiefs’ usage of Hill in 2021, compared to his first four seasons in KC.
They also implied that general manager Brett Veach did not offer fair compensation in extension talks, despite the wideout’s desire to remain with the franchise. Add in one viral comment about Tua Tagovailoa being a more accurate passer than Patrick Mahomes and you got yourself an immediate home run in the podcast world.
Unfortunately, controversial topics tend to cause some animosity in the age of social media.
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Hill: ‘Craziest Week of My Life’
Near the start of episode two at the 2:40 mark, co-host and attorney Julius Collins noted that the people jumping into his and Hill’s direct messages on social media were “talking crazy.” The wide receiver then explained what that meant:
By the way, I got death threats from every social media that I own, every social media account I own I got death threats on — which is ridiculous.
Collins called it “insane,” adding that there were a lot of “black jokes” as well. Obviously, a response like this goes way too far in any scenario but especially when it comes to the game of football.
Hill called last week the “craziest week” of his life based on all the criticism he heard over his podcast. “I took a lot of heat last week, man,” Hill reflected. “From fans, from analysts, from family members.”
He clarified earlier that he never meant anything as a shot at Mahomes or his former organization. “We all know Patrick Mahomes is great,” Hill stated. “We know that. We know that. But right now, I’m going into a new season with a new quarterback who’s trying to head in the same direction as Patrick and do great things, and lead this team to a Super Bowl championship — [and] who’s also great, in my opinion… He just doesn’t have the accolades of [Mahomes] yet. [But] I believe in him.”
It remains to be seen if Hill can help turn Tagovailoa into the top-10 talent he was drafted to become. The former champion made one thing clear, however, he wants to bring a Super Bowl to Miami. He didn’t just sign there to get an early start on his retirement.
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Tyreek’s Confession
The dynamic superstar concluded the segment — which they called, “Get It Off Your Chest” — by telling listeners a heartfelt story of his childhood and ongoing motivation.
“I’ve been playing football my whole life,” he began, “my whole entire life man football is really all I know… Football was my moneymaker and when I was in high school I had the chance to really learn about the game of football. I knew football was going to take care of me and my family. My senior year of high school me and my grandparents were living together, we [didn’t] have no lights for a whole entire year. So I had no electricity, so basically I was homeless.”
Hill continued: “There would be some nights [when] my mom would just cry all night, all night… I can just remember myself telling myself from then on that we would never ever live like that ever again. If I’m on this earth, my parents would not live like that.”
“The reason I play this game is for my family,” he voiced. “I do this s*** for my family dog. So just being able to change my family’s life, just our whole dynamic, being able to take care of my kids [and] set my kids up for life… When I signed my deal with the Dolphins, Coach [Mike] McDaniel and the owner Mr. [Stephen] Ross really changed my family’s life.”
The star wide receiver has not always made headlines for the right reason throughout his career but you cannot blame him for this mentality above. Family is family and at the end of the day, Hill’s upbringing led to him cashing in with the Dolphins.