The Miami Dolphins are saying the disgruntled wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who made headlines for his post-game rant following the conclusion of the season, did not request a trade during a meeting with the team this week, according to ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques.
Hill, who strongly hinted that he wanted to leave Miami this offseason during the viral rant, did not play during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss to the New York Jets, but was not reported to be injured.
“We met for, I want to say, an hour yesterday,” Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said. “I think I was very direct with him, he was very honest, and it was great terms that we were discussing. Discussed multiple things, including, without wavering, that it’s not acceptable to leave the game and it won’t be tolerated in the future. He embraced accountability, and I wouldn’t say there was anything necessarily to fix as much as we had to clear the air in a rough and tumultuous situation.”
McDaniel has quite the mess to clean up with the culture in South Florida, as multiple reportedly alluded to some players repeatedly being late to team meetings, and while McDaniel said that he fined players numerous times, he admitted that the current system was “not enough” and vowed to make changes moving forward.
“I think it’s important that you let guys know that we’re at the point in our team where guys are firmly aware of the expectations,” McDaniel said. “And if your actions continually lead to final offenses that you’re telling me without words that you don’t want to be here. So, I think it’s very clear — I think it’s not an indictment necessarily of all [players], but we are subject to everyone’s actions as a football team, so we’ll address those as such.”
Dolphins general manager Chris Grier, who the team controversially decided to retain, stressed the importance of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa being healthy enough to play, which has been an issue throughout his career and specifically this season as he missed 6 games.
“He needs to be available. He needs to know how to protect himself,” Grier said. “He needs to control what he can control. He understands that not being available after taking chances of risk is not acceptable to us.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212.1 million extension in July and had a brutal first year of the contract.
