Tyreek Hill's Career Season Isn't a Surprise to Andy Reid
It's not just Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes who is having a great year, wide receiver Tyreek Hill is having one of the best years of his career as well.
Following his career day against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Hill has firmly plunged himself into the conversation for best wide receiver in the game, but that comes as no surprise to the people closest to him.
We talked about that on today's Roughing the Kicker podcast with Arrowhead Report's Conner Christopherson. Hill's game against the Bucs is hard not to talk about.
Arrowhead Report's Jordan Foote also wrote a great piece about Hill on Monday that is a must-read as well.
This season, the 2016 fifth-round pick has hauled in 68 catches for a league-leading 1,021 receiving yards and a league-best 13 touchdowns. Hill is on pace to set career-highs in receptions and receiving yards and has already bested his previous single-season high for touchdowns.
As Hill announced his presence with authority in Tampa Bay on Sunday, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said after the game he's seen Hill develop every step of the way and isn't shocked by his progress.
“I see how hard he works, so I’m very excited for him learning the position," Reid said. "That goes from how do you handle your body for a long season and try to limit the injuries, the little small injuries, or be able to fight through the smaller ones? Then, how do you get your quarterback to trust early in the week to know that you’re going to be there for him? So, there’s a certain mentality that goes with that and it takes a tremendous amount of toughness to do that."
This year Hill has taken 86.54% of Kansas City's offensive snaps. Only Eric Fisher, Mahomes and Andrew Wylie have more snaps than Hill this season. Additionally, the 26-year-old has already topped his snap count from a year ago.
With the amount of playing time Hill gets, Reid continued his point and said his endurance and toughness have been his biggest area of growth since his rookie season.
"I think that’s probably really where he’s gotten better at," Reid said. "Not that he wasn’t always tough, I’m not saying that, but it’s a long season and this kid runs miles. He’s like a midfielder in soccer, I mean, he’s running all over the place. And we have him in a lot of different spots and that can wear on you, and he’s just stayed strong in that area."
Hill still seems motivated by being called a "return specialist" early in his career, even mentioning it when he was asked about the types of coverage he was seeing after the game. The chip that gave him is still on his shoulder.
"When he goes out to practice, he goes out with a purpose and good things are happening for him,” Reid said.
We're just seeing the tip of the iceberg.
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