/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61000557/Screen_Shot_2018_08_23_at_5.01.52_PM.0.png)
In more than two years of covering Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill, I have never seen him like I saw him Thursday afternoon.
Standing at the podium at the Chiefs practice facility, Hill spoke to the media members in attendance as if they were friends.
if you would like to comment, @MarcusDKemp, you have the floor pic.twitter.com/xHaE5RpaGx
— Tom Martin (@TomKCTV5) August 23, 2018
In my opinion, the only proper way to cover Hill’s Thursday presser is in the format of Best of.
Away we go.
If you remember, the other day I said we weren’t talking about Hill’s tracking ability on The Throw (Patrick Mahomes’ 69-yard touchdown pass) nearly enough.
On Thursday, I asked Hill if he remembered what he was thinking as he looked over his shoulder three separate times before catching the football.
“At first I didn’t think he was going to throw it until I actually saw him wind up,” Hill said. “I was like, ‘Oh, he’s really about to throw this.’ I had to put on the gas.”
At that point, I wanted to know if Hill made his tracking a point of emphasis this offseason. It turned out Hill has made tracking a point of emphasis his whole life.
“I have worked on my tracking since I was a kid,” Hill added. “I was always good at kickball and stuff like that – not that that has anything to do with it – but as a kid I was always good at tracking the ball on the kickball field. I would play in the middle and they would kick the ball and I would track it well. That’s probably where I get it from.”
Friend of the site Tom Martin asked Hill whether or not he had ever seen so much hype surrounding a preseason throw-and-catch.
“I believe that touchdown wouldn’t have had that much hype if I didn’t twerk,” Hill said.
Hill was penalized for the dance.
“I kind of knew I was going to get penalized, but I was like, ‘You know, I’m just going to have fun. First touchdown—feeling good, so I’m just going to dance. But I would not do that no more. I’m not going to put my team in jeopardy, you know?”
Hill was then asked about the potential of the Mahomes-Hill duo this season.
“To me, I feel like me and Pat could be the best,” he said. “But I feel like there are other things that tie into this offense. It’s not only me and him, obviously, on the field. We have a lot of great weapons on this team. That’s what I’m more happy for. Just to be able to play with my teammates, my brothers and just to be able to make plays with those guys.”
Hill wants to stay the Chiefs’ punt returner despite talks that he could lose his job.
“I love doing punt returns,” he said. :I feel like I came into this league as a punt returner and I am always going to be a punt returner. I kind of thrive on that. That’s how I get going on offense. Anytime I can make a big play and set up the offense for a touchdown drive or something like that I am pumped. I love punt return and kickoff return. Whatever I need to do to help the team, I am for it.”
Tyreek Hill revealed that he and his Chiefs offensive teammates communicate about the team over video games on Playstation 4.
“We started this Madden franchise,” Hill said. “We got everybody on the team in the franchise. Believe this or not, Pat (Mahomes) is the Chiefs and I’m the (Buffalo) Bills. I’m trying to get myself from the Chiefs to the Bills, but he won’t trade me. I’m trying to give Pat Kevin Benjamin and a first-rounder. [Thursday night] he better take my trade. That’s all I know.”
Hill then explained that he is the commissioner of the franchise.
“I’m like Roger Goodell,” he said. “I have to run the league ... D (Demarcus Robinson) is a commissioner. He’s the (Cleveland) Browns. You got Eric Berry. He’s the coach. Trying to decide on teams—I feel I’m the best, so I play with the Bills. The Bills? They good, but they’re not good, so I want to make the league fair. If I get somebody like the Chiefs, I’m going to win all the time. I want to make the league fair for my teammates, y’know?
“Last night I beat one of my teammates 70-2. It was bad.”
A reporter asked for a name, and Hill smiled.
“No names, no names, no names, no names—Kemp,” Hill said as the room laughed. “It was bad. It was pretty bad, man. I love Kemp, man, but, thanks for having me.”
And like a comedian on tour, Hill exited stage left.