When you’re widely regarded as one of the league’s premier wide receivers, yet teams decide to move on from you, it inevitably invites a tougher conversation. Is it purely business, or is there something beneath the surface? Tyreek Hill fits that tension almost perfectly. Elite production? Absolutely. But the off-field dynamics have complicated the narrative. And in Colin Cowherd’s view, that’s where the real distinction lies.

“I think he’s a great talent, I don’t know if he’s a winning player,” Cowherd said. “Kansas City said we love you, we’re moving off you and they won back-to-back Super Bowls without this speed demon on the outside. Really talented guy, probably going to make the Hall-of-Fame.”

Cowherd’s comment came just a couple of days after the Miami Dolphins released the 31-year-old wide receiver. The move, however, felt less shocking and more inevitable. The reason traces back to the 2024 season, when Hill removed himself from Miami’s regular-season finale, the same year he missed the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career.

In the aftermath, he publicly expressed a desire to be traded. Miami didn’t act on it. Hill later walked it back and apologized the following month. Still, the message had already landed. The partnership felt strained. Cowherd saw it then, too. Back in July 2025, he revisited the pattern and didn’t hold back:

“It’s time for Tyreek Hill to eventually grow up. Again, the Cowboys had to move off Dez Bryant; he couldn’t. Stefon Diggs, who I really like, Josh Allen’s like, ‘Enough.’ Kyle Shanahan, Deebo see ya. Steelers on AB. I mean, the Chiefs won back-to-back Super Bowls the minute Tyreek Hill left. They went with the old, slow tight end.”

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Fast forward to now, and with Miami’s new regime officially cutting ties, Cowherd is circling back to the same point. The talent isn’t in question. Hall of Fame trajectory? Most around the league would agree. But being a winning player, that’s a different evaluation altogether.

Hill spent six seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, hit his prime there, earned six Pro Bowl nods, and secured a Super Bowl ring. Yet the Chiefs traded him to Miami. With the Dolphins, he delivered back-to-back 1,700-plus-yard seasons. Then came a relative dip in 2024 and a season-ending injury in 2025. Now, Miami has moved on.

So the debate was never about ability. It’s about everything surrounding it. And this week, NFL veteran Ryan Clark echoed a similar sentiment.

“Even though he’s coming off an injury, you make a decision that’s not who we want to start with,” Clark said of Miami releasing Hill. “And what that tells me is this, it matters more about who you are at some points than what you can do. Let’s think about Antonio Brown. Antonio Brown, in my opinion, is a first ballot Hall of Famer…But it’s some of the things about who he was away from the field, and in his last game, who he was on the field that we talk about more.”

Clark drew parallels between Hill and receivers like Antonio Brown and Terrell Owens, both Hall-of-Fame-level talents whose off-field narratives complicated their legacies and, in Owens’ case, delayed Canton recognition. In Clark’s view, Hill is hovering in similar territory.

And that’s the serious problem Cowherd also keeps circling back to, the gap between Tyreek Hill’s undeniable talent and whether he elevates a franchise when it matters most.

Which naturally raises the next question: What does Hill’s next chapter look like? And how does he reshape the conversation? Clark believes a reunion with Kansas City could be one path forward.

Talks around a Tyreek Hill-Chiefs’ reunion reignited

Miami acquired Tyreek Hill from Kansas City in exchange for a first-round pick, a second-round pick, two fourth-round picks, and a sixth-round pick. At the time, it was a massive investment. And for a stretch, it paid off. But now that his tenure in Miami is over, the focus naturally shifts to what comes next. And Ryan Clark believes a return to Kansas City could offer the kind of reset Hill might need.

“For Tyreek Hill, whether it’s to go back to Kansas City and play with Patrick Mahomes, play with Eric Bieniemy, play with Andy Reid, and be back in a place that understands you, that loves you, that knows how to utilize you,” he said. “It’s more important that the person he is in the locker room, that the person he is in his home, that the person he is in front of microphones is the person that he wants people to know him as, because as he moves on, that will be the legacy we talk about.”

Setting aside the off-field noise, Hill has built a résumé that speaks for itself. It began in Kansas City. Across six seasons with the Chiefs, he recorded four 1,000-plus-yard campaigns and became one of the league’s most feared serious threats. In that span, he also developed undeniable on-field chemistry with Patrick Mahomes.

He thrived under head coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, a system tailored to maximize his speed and versatility. On paper, a reunion checks a lot of boxes. And Hill himself has hinted at a fresh start. Shortly after leaving Miami, he posted on Instagram:

“The Cheetah don’t slow down. Ever. So to everyone wondering what’s next… just wait on it. The Cheetah will be back…Born Again.”

Clark’s broader point is about structure and identity. Returning to a familiar environment, one that understands his strengths and expectations, could help Hill recalibrate and steady the narrative around him. Whether that materializes remains uncertain. What isn’t uncertain is this: wherever Hill plays in 2026, the headlines will follow.