The Kansas City Chiefs' Tyreek Hill is the most explosive player in the NFL, and it took him just two seasons to get a large portion of the football-watching world to buy into that notion.
The tape shows it, the other players and national analysts preach it, and all of the numbers back it up.
So, what's next for the 24-year-old two-time Pro Bowler coming off a breakout season and a guy who was recently named the 40th best overall player in the league by his peers?
"As a kid, you grow up seeing all these great players make that (NFL Top 100) list, and it's not a big deal to me, but obviously I want to be No. 1," Hill explained. "So, I've got to keep getting better—keep grinding each and every year."
Hill said that players around the league have already been reaching out to him about his offseason workouts, trying to pick the brain of the league's fastest player to try and get an edge on their own game.
And for a player who has averaged a ridiculous 51-yards-per-play on his 20 career touchdowns, that's not a bad guy to try and learn from, particularly in the area of training for speed and quickness.
Quotable:
A few weeks ago during offseason workouts, Hill was asked about the work he's been getting in with second-year quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who has taken over as the starting quarterback this offseason.
Specifically, Hill was asked about Mahomes' ability to scramble outside the pocket and look to make plays all over the field—something he did often at Texas Tech as he led the nation in passing in his final season, and something we saw glimpses of in his limited action for the Chiefs last season as a rookie.
"As a receiver, we love that," Hill noted. "The cornerbacks tend to get lazy once the quarterback rolls out of the pocket. There will be even more deep shots for us down the field."
Well, that's saying something considering Mahomes has got the league's fastest and most-explosive player out there with him.
Three Storylines to Follow for Hill at Camp:
- The relationship and timing with Mahomes. This will be one of the top storylines at camp and something that will be discussed almost daily. Hill is one of the league's rising stars and his skillset—combined with Mahomes' natural arm talent—makes for even the most non-optimistic Chiefs' fan to be intrigued by what this duo looks like in the weeks leading up to the beginning of the season.
- Is he returning kickoffs? Chiefs' special team's coordinator and assistant head coach Dave Toub wasn't tipping his hand on whether or not Hill would return kickoffs this year. He did confirm that Hill would return punts, but with the new kickoff rules in place, the idea of Hill returning kicks that "will be more like punts now" is an intriguing one. Toub didn't deny that Hill could do but didn't say he would either. It's something to watch during training camp. Hill has returned 14 kicks in his career for an average of 27.4 yards per return with one touchdown.
- How does the addition of Sammy Watkins open things up for Hill? For all that's made of Hill's abilities and production over his first two years, there's also a lot to be said for the newest addition to the Chiefs' receivers' room, Sammy Watkins, who signed as a free agent this offseason and is the only player in the NFL since 2014 who has averaged at least 15 yards per catch and scored at least 25 touchdowns. The fact that those two guys are on the same team now is why people are enamored for what this Chiefs' offense, which also features one of the league's best tight ends in Travis Kelce, not to mention also boasting the league's reigning rushing champion in Kareem Hunt, could be next season. So, how is Hill being moved around and used in different ways by a creative head coach in Andy Reid? Hill has run the ball 24 times in his career for an average of more than 11 yards-per-carry with three touchdowns. So, he's scored a touchdown for every eight times he's rushed the ball. Pretty good.
It'll be interesting to see how the Chiefs' offense is tweaked a bit with Mahomes under center, and how Reid plans on utilizing Hill and all of the other weapons he has on offense right now. We've seen plenty of creativity from Reid in the past, and the new variables mean there's probably some new things in store for everyone, although he might not necessarily show those during camp or the preseason.