On Friday, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa got a big raise. Now, we’ll find out whether Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill will get a big raise. Or any raise, for that matter.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Dolphins will now turn to Tyreek’s deal, given that Tua’s five-year contract has been signed.
It remains to be seen what the Dolphins will do, if anything. He’s due to make $19.665 million this year, $22.935 million in 2025, and a phony-baloney $45 million in 2026. (That big final-year payment artificially drove his new-money average from $25 million to $30 million.)
One easy solution would be to move some of the money from 2026 to 2024. The Dolphins could also guarantee some of next year’s money.
The harder outcome would be an extension with a raise aimed at getting his new-money average closer to Justin Jefferson’s $35 million. Hill has $87.6 million in money remaining on the current deal. That means it would take a six-year, $192.6 million contract ($32.1 million per year from signing) to get Hill to a three-year, $105 million ($35 million per year) extension.
Then there’s Hill’s sensitivity to the possibility that, if he pushes too hard for more money, the Dolphins might trade him. And so the challenge will be to set aside the petty and predictable obsession with new-money average (Hill, for example, characterizes his deal as being worth $30 million per year when it actually isn’t) and not to worry about whether receivers he views as less than him are making more money under the default (and in many respects misleading) new-money average calculation.
Can he do it? It’s something to watch, especially with the most talented and impactful player on the team getting less than $20 million this year, and the quarterback having a new-money average of $53.1 million.