Report: NFL Could Place Tyreek Hill on Commissioner's Exempt List This Week

The NFL might place Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill on the Commissioner's Exempt List as early as this week.

The NFL might place Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill on the Commissioner's Exempt List as early as this week in response to a newly released audio recording featuring Hill and his fiancée discussing the controversy around their three-year-old son's injury, reports ESPN's Dan Graziano. 

According to Graziano, the league and players union received the same 11-minute audio recording that KCTV5 aired last week, which features Hill discussing his son's broken arm and how he and fiancée, Crystal Espinal, should deal with the investigation in what happened. The recording includes Espinal, asking the receiver why their son said, "Daddy did it," in reference to his injured arm. Hill is heard at one point threatening Espinal, telling her, "You need to be terrified of me, too, b----."

Graziano reported that while the league has historically declined to use the list in the offseason, the NFL might make an exception in this case since Hill is in the middle of an ongoing criminal investigation. The list keeps a player off the field while the league reviews a charge or allegation, while usually waiting for the legal system to conclude its process. In Kansas City, prosecutors reopened the criminal investigation, while Hill was suspended by the Chiefs after the tape's release. 

The decision to reopen the case came after Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said Wednesday his office would decline to file charges against Hill and Espinal in the criminal investigation for child abuse charges. Howe said his office believed a crime occurred but evidence couldn't "conclusively" establish who committed the crime.

The recording was then released Thursday. 

The Chiefs said Saturday that the team will make the "right decision" at the "right time" regarding Hill. 

This isn't the first incident involving Hill and Espinal. In 2015, Hill pleaded guilty to domestic violence charges for punching and choking Espinal while she was pregnant. He was sentenced to three years probation.