The Miami Dolphins are pretty close to an unmitigated mess. Yes, they lost to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday in embarrassing fashion and dropped to 1-4 on the season, but their problems run deeper than that.
During their one win of the season against the New York Jets last Monday night, they lost one of their few good players for the season. Wide receiver Tyreek Hill dislocated his knee and will miss the remainder of the season.
It’s great that the “surgery went great,” according to Hill on X, but his NFL future is still up in the air. And, according to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, Hill’s Dolphins career is likely over.
The Dolphins wide receiver suffered a dislocated knee in Monday’s win against the Jets, tearing multiple ligaments including his ACL that required surgery this week,” Jones writes. The five-time first-team All Pro was in the second year of a three-year contract extension with Miami, and league sources expect the Dolphins to release Hill before the start of the next league year in March 2026.
Tyreek Hill probably would have been cut anyway
The idea that the Dolphins will move on from Hill sounds more dire than it really is. It was probably going to happen regardless due to the nature of his contract. And it shouldn’t be too big of a smack in the face to Dolphins fans considering there have been rumors of the team moving on since he popped off at the mouth after the last game of the 2024 season.
“An outright release before the start of the 2026 league year was always on the table regardless of injury due to how Hill’s contract is structured,” Jones writes. “Last offseason he signed a deal that was reported as a three-year extension worth $90 million.
“But the final year of the deal had a cap hit of nearly $52 million and mostly served to increase the average-annual-salary mark that is used as the most common metric for ranking player salaries.”
McDaniel optimistic on Tyreek Hill’s recovery for next year
It’s easy for Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel to put a positive spin on Hill’s injury. Sure, he’s confident in the athlete that Tyreek is and that with hard work he’ll be back to some semblance of himself before the start of next season.
But, what he’s not saying is ‘who cares? I won’t be here.’
“Obviously, his season’s done,” McDaniel said earlier this week. “Our focus is, as a team, is to support him. I think there was some competitive greatness from our doctors, for critical execution in a very timely fashion that did very well for the injury for him. I can’t say enough about that.
“And as a team, we’re supporting our teammate. And he’s very steadfast on us, as a team, getting ready for the Carolina Panthers. So, that’s kind of where that’s at. It hasn’t been deemed to be anything beyond this surgery and we’re very hopeful for it to turn out well,” McDaniel said. “It’s just executing this procedure and seeing what happens from there.”
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