Two years ago, Tyreek Hill became the highest-paid receiver in football, with a contract carrying a new-money average of $30 million per year.
There are now two problems with the contract, one of which was there from the moment the contract was signed. First, the $30 million is and always was fake, phony, fugazi. To get to $30 million per year, the final year’s compensation package was pumped up to a ridiculously unrealistic $45 million.
Take that away from the four-year, $120 million extension, and Hill got a three-year, $75 million extension. The real, true, actual new-money average isn’t $30 million. It’s $25 million.
Second, recent deals compare very favorably to Hill’s contract. This offseason, his fake $30 million contract has been matched and beaten — without fake final years — by Amon-Ra St. Brown and A.J. Brown. More recently, Texans receiver Nico Collins (represented by Drew Rosenhaus, the same agent who represents Hill) got a three-year extension with a real new-money average of $24.25 million.
Could the Texans and Collins have added a phony fourth year with a $47.25 million compensation package to drive the average to $30 million per year? Yep. And that would have been exactly what the Dolphins and Hill did.
Throw in the fact that Hill makes only $19.765 million in cash this year, and he could be getting antsy. Look at what he said earlier this month about finishing his career in Miami: “I love the team I play on, love the guys in the locker room, love the head coach, love the G.M. So that means sign me. I love all you guys so much, I want to stay in Miami forever, man. Keep me there.”
Sign me? He’s signed for three more years.
It’s not sign me. It’s pay me.
And that’s only going to get louder, as other receivers get new contracts. What if Justin Jefferson gets a real $35 million or more per year? What if Ja’Marr Chase gets close to that?
“Sign me.”
“Pay me.”
Bottom line? At a time when there’s so much focus on working out a new deal with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, the Dolphins need to be thinking about keeping their best player happy. Our guess is that, beyond what he said publicly, there’s already some private agitation to get something done.
If there isn’t, there will be if/when Jefferson gets paid. After all, it was the Davante Adams contract in 2022 that prompted the push by Hill for a new contract. And that push ended up with Hill playing for a new team.
