Media Reacts to Blockbuster Tyreek Hill Trade

The Kansas City Chiefs shipped six-time Pro Bowl receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for five draft picks Wednesday afternoon, a gigantic trade that once against thrust the NFL to the forefront of the conversation. As expected, the bombshell elicited strong opinions from across the take-o-sphere. Let's take a look around the sports media world and see what everybody thinks.

NFL Network

Ian Rapoport explains how the trade came to be. The news appeared out of nowhere for us non-insiders, and Rap provides some helpful background. He implies the catalyst for the trade was the fat deal Davante Adams got when he was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders. The All-Pro received a market-setting five-year deal worth $140 million with $65 million guaranteed. Once that happened, the Chiefs' talks with Hill changed completely-- and here we are.

Pat McAfee

The Pat McAfee Show's instant reaction to the blockbuster is below. McAfee's crew is impressed by the number of picks the Chiefs got, while McAfee himself reaffirms how much he loves the "eff them picks" strategy that Les Snead used to win the Rams a Super Bowl. They also try to puzzle out exactly how the perfect marriage between Hill and Kansas City came to an end, with the ultimate conclusion that the structure of Patrick Mahomes' contract combined with Adams' market-setting deal forced Kansas City to move their speedy wideout.

Pro Football Talk

Mike Florio took a different tact than the previous entries in this post and broke down what effect HIll's absence will have on the Chiefs' offense. It is an interesting topic because we've rarely seen Mahomes without Hill over the last five years. Hill's ability to take the top off the defense at any given moment played a significant role in Andy Reid's world-destroying offense. Florio acknowledges how that will change things, but points out that Mahomes may be less likely to tempt fate and throw up a deep ball without Hill somewhere down there. Per PFT:

Tyreek Hill has been a game changer for the Chiefs. Fast, explosive, elusive. He forces defenses to game plan around him. He compels efforts to take him away deep, which in turn makes Mahomes and the offense look for available openings closer to the line of scrimmage.

The allure of launching the ball deep to Hill has been difficult for Mahomes to resist. He has learned to be patient. Without Hill, the temptation naturally will diminish.

Two sides to every coin, right?

Sportscenter

Robert Griffin III was the personality chosen to appear for a Sportscenter hit with Sage Steele in the immediate aftermath of the breaking news. RGIII loves the move for Miami. He's clearly a big fan of how Mike McDaniel can scheme an offense and thinks very highly of Hill, calling him one of the best receivers in the NFL, hard stop. The former NFL Rookie of the Year believes Tua Tagovailoa will benefit immensely from Hill's presence as well, and spent most of his appearance examining how Miami's offseason additions will change opinions of Tagovailoa in 2022-- even if they aren't Super Bowl contenders.