Kansas City players say they still love their old teammate — that is, until Sunday’s game against Miami gets underway.
When the NFL decided that this season’s matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins would take place at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany, they knew that the first matchup between these two teams since the Chiefs traded their star wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins in March of 2022 would be a big draw.
Now that the two teams are 1-2 in the AFC, Sunday’s game is even bigger. But it still comes back to Hill. Speaking to the press after the team arrived in Germany on Friday, Kansas City head coach Andy Reid said while that Hill is a “heck of a player,” he’s not the only one about whom the Chiefs are concerned.
“They’ve got a couple of great players on that team — offensively and defensively,” noted Reid. “[But] we’re familiar with [Tyreek]. He’s been doing this [for] a long time at a very high level — and he hasn’t slowed down.
“He’s putting up great numbers. Our guys know that. It’s a great challenge for us — our secondary — to work against him. That’s what we’re practicing for.”
Reid, in fact, identified himself as one of Hill’s “biggest fans” — and on Sunday, he won’t be the only person on the Chiefs’ sideline who feels that way.
“That’s my brother,” declared quarterback Patrick Mahomes. “I mean, with everything else going on, we’ve built a great relationship over the years that he was in Kansas City. [We] still talk every once in a while these days.”
All of that will end — for a few hours, anyway — when they don their uniforms on Sunday.
“We’re playing a great football team,” said Mahomes. “They’ve got a lot of great players over there, so it’ll be a great challenge for us — and what better place to do it than in Germany?”
Since he left Kansas City, Hill has had plenty to say about his time there. Some of what he’s said hasn’t been received well by his former teammates — or by the team’s fans.
“He likes to say his piece,” observed tight end Travis Kelce. “He’s always been like that — even just playing basketball in the locker room in Kansas City. And I’ve seen him lose a lot of those games — so I’ll leave it at that.”
Defensive tackle Chris Jones believes he sees what’s been going on.
”I understand,” said Jones. ”He’ll want to rile his crowd up — and I’ll support it. But then at the end of the day — when the pads come on and those lights are on — we’ve still got to line up and play, right? So I’m looking forward to it.”
And so is Kelce.
”[Tyreek’s] going to get a team that’s ready to fight — and ready to go all four quarters. If it has to go into OT, then it has to go.
“But I know we’re ready — and we’re prepared. It’s going to be a heck of a game for everybody watching here in Germany.”
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