MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Miami Dolphins players got a surprise guest speaker during Friday’s meeting — wide receiver Tyreek Hill.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Hill attending Friday’s meeting three days after undergoing season-ending surgery on a dislocated left knee. Hill had been hospitalized since suffering the injury in Monday night’s win over the New York Jets but was able to return to the facility to offer his teammates words of encouragement.
“Tyreek was in the building today,” McDaniel said. “He came into the team meeting and made sure that the guys were continuing to stay motivated to have complementary football with 11 players playing as one in three phases over the course of the game.”
The Dolphins enter relatively uncharted territory starting with this week’s game against the Carolina Panthers. Since trading for Hill in 2022, they’ve only played one game without him — a 30-0 win over the Jets in 2023.
Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, who signed a three-year, $84.75 million extension last May, steps into Hill’s role as the team’s lead receiver; however, McDaniel said Miami has always seen Waddle as a number one receiver, and Waddle said the concept is more of a media creation than an actual role.
“We never look at it like Receiver 1, or 1A-1B,” Waddle said Thursday. “I think that’s more like a media thing or something that gives something for the media to talk about. We all go out there, make plays and just try to help our team win. It’s not a Receiver 1, Receiver 2, type of thing. It’s being able to go out there contribute and help your team get a W.”
Since entering the league in 2021, Waddle ranks 15th in receiving yards and 10th in yards per catch. His seven receptions of 50 or more yards are tied for 8th-most in that same span.
Miami will also look to 2024 sixth-round pick Malik Washington in an increased role in the passing game, as well as tight end Darren Waller — who caught two touchdown passes in his debut last week.
McDaniel said Waller still won’t likely see a full workload after playing 16 of Miami’s 58 offensive snaps in Week 4, but he has “earned” more snaps against the Panthers.
The Dolphins’ coach also said he doesn’t expect to overcompensate for Hill’s absence. “I think we have a lot of capable football players that I’m very confident in,” he said. “I think when you lose players of that magnitude, it’s never done with one human being. It’s the execution of the overall group at all positions that make up the difference. And I have a bunch of motivated football players. “Where there’s adversity, there’s opportunity — I think that’s kind of our speed.”
Thank you for making this topic less intimidating.