Trade me once, shame on you. Trade me twice, shame on me.
That’s the mindset that apparently has prompted Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill to say all the right things, most of the time, about his situation. He knows if he’s traded a second time, he’ll be regarded as the problem.
And so he’s trying hard to make it look like he’s not currently disgruntled. Even if he possibly is.
On Monday night, frustrations of the moment took over. Yes, he tried to downplay it on Wednesday. If he’d said what he said today on Monday night instead of ducking out on reporters after the ugly loss to the Titans, his “motivation not frustration” explanation would be more believable.
He also said on Wednesday that he doesn’t want to be traded back to the team that traded him to Miami, or anywhere else. And, to top it all off, he sees the team’s mostly-empty glass as half full.
With Tua Tagovailoa on injured reserve for at least two more games and with Skylar Thompson injured, Tyler Huntley is still the guy. And Hill believes in him.
“Snoop is awesome,” Hill told reporters on Wednesday. “For him to be here for [two] weeks and for him to be prepared the way he was prepared for that Monday night game, in my book that’s trending upwards. Because our offense is so complicated and there’s so many motions and words in the play call, and for him to get all that down in a week or so, it’s tremendous. I can tell already by him stepping into the huddle, he’s already confident. He’s reading the play call, not even looking at it, so he’s ready to roll, man.”
Does that mean there could be a significant difference between Monday night against the Titans and Sunday at the Patriots.
“I mean, for sure,” Hill said. “It’s like when Denver played that one guy at quarterback during the COVID year — he just came in out of nowhere. But now Snoop has a chance to understand the system, understand how guys play now. He’s now had a chance to see how me and [Jaylen] Waddle move, had a chance to see how [De’Von] Achane moves, understand his offensive line, what’s going on up there, you know what I’m saying? It all ties in together, man. Once he had his chance to figure all that out, it’s going to be smooth back there.”
Hill had similarly confident remarks to Laura Rutledge of ESPN before Monday night’s game. And we know how that worked out. We’ll see if he goes one for two.
Regardless, if the Dolphins can’t get it together on a short-week road game, the frustrations or “motivation” could become even worse.