/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63304461/usa_today_12247254.0.jpg)
On March 15, news broke that Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill was reportedly involved in an investigation by Overland Park, Kansas police about an alleged incident of battery against a juvenile who was reported to be Hill’s 3-year-old son.
Hill’s situation has been top-of-mind for most Chiefs fans since then, but very little additional information has become available.
According to reporting from friend-of-the-site Terez Paylor of Yahoo! Sports, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was reluctant to say much but did provide a few details during the NFL coaches breakfast in Phoenix on Tuesday.
Reid said he had not personally spoken to Hill, who shattered the Chiefs franchise record for receiving yards in 2018, and was expected to be signed to a long-term contract extension before the 2019 season.
“I have not — our counsel has told us not to do that, so I have not been in contact with him.” Reid said to reporters on Tuesday. “I really don’t even have a further statement from what we put out. So really, nothing’s happened there. There’s no news on that.”
The statement to which Reid referred — issued by the team on March 15 — said only that the team was aware of the investigation involving Hill, and was in the process of gathering information about it from the league and local authorities.
In a tweet earlier on Tuesday, Paylor had reported the gist of Reid’s remarks about Hill, but did not include a reference to team counsel.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid says he has not been in touch with Tyreek Hill. He does not have a further statement on the matter.
— Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) March 26, 2019
“We’re just letting it take its course. Did I expect it to happen? I don’t know what happened. That’s what they’re trying to figure out.”
So it would now appear that Reid hasn’t spoken to Hill at the direction of the team’s attorneys.
According to Paylor’s reporting, Reid confirmed that the Chiefs have had internal conversations about potential responses the team might have to various ways the alleged incident might ultimately be resolved. But Reid was apparently unwilling to expand on those conversations.
“You always want to make sure everybody’s OK, and then let it run its course and make sure you let that part happen... that’s where we’re at right now,” Reid said. “As a coach or human, I mean, you’re gonna have things that happen. So you deal with it.”
Paylor also reported that Reid said he hasn’t yet concerned himself with what the team might do if Hill is not on the team in 2019.
Fans and the media have drawn many parallels between the current situation with Hill and the release of Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt, who was quickly released from the team last November when video surfaced of an incident involving Hunt in his hometown of Cleveland more than a year ago. Reporters reminded Reid of the team’s fast response to that incident.
“If we’re gonna make a move like that, it’s pretty well thought out,” Reid responded. “So we try to gather the information and then go from there, and obviously allow law enforcement or whoever is involved in that [to] run its course, too.”
It is unknown how long the investigation of the alleged incident will last. According to reporting from the Kansas City Star last Tuesday, a parallel investigation by the Kansas Department for Children and Families is now underway, and such investigations typically last at least 30 days — sometimes much longer.