Miami Dolphins: Remember Tyreek Hill’s mind-blowing claim he deserved to be called NFL’s No. 1 player?

Most knowledgeable NFL observers knew Tyreek Hill didn’t deserve to be called the NFL’s best player. The Miami Dolphins receiver held that distinction because of a vote by his peers earlier this year. But instead of taking the humble route, Hill gushed that he deserved to be called the NFL’s No. 1 player.

Seven games into the season, it should be clear — even to Tyreek Hill — he is not the NFL’s best player. After his performance so far, he hardly even deserves a mention in the top 10.

Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill shamelessly self-promoted

Hill could have been diplomatic about things. But when asked about the ranking, Hill commented “fo sho” on the Up & Adams Show.

“Yeah!” he said. “Fo sho. I’m him! I’m him! My argument is Pat (Mahomes) is great. He’s great, obviously, for his team. They won back-to-back Super Bowls. Yada yada. They did their thing.

“You look at me. Back-to-back 1,700 (yard seasons), Pro Bowl, All-Pro, All-Decade. Consistency. All that, man. And I’m doing this at 5-8, about 190? Come on, man. A lot of people said I couldn’t be a receiver, and here I am doing this.”

And yet, this year Hill has 366 yards receiving with one measly touchdown. At this pace, Hill would finish the season with 889 yards and two touchdowns. Yep. Sounds like the NFL’s best player to me? Right? I didn’t think so.

But let’s be fair to Hill about QB situation, right?

Wait! Whoa! Slow that roll, dog. Hill has an excuse. Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has been injured. You can’t expect Hill to put up numbers with the guys the Dolphins have trotted out there behind center.

Wrong. You can expect that. When Hill labeled himself as the NFL’s top dog, he DID NOT say, “Because I play with a great quarterback.” He pointed only at himself. Furthermore, he compared himself as being better than even the greatest quarterback of today’s game. Also, he downplayed what Patrick Mahomes has accomplished. “Yada yada.” Right, Tyreek?

Put your statistics where your mouth is

But here’s the deal. When a player boasts about his greatness, he must be able to stand on his own two feet when the surrounding cast falls apart. If the Chiefs lost every good skill player they had and finished 0-17, do you think Mahomes would be considered the NFL’s best player? Nope.

You are the NFL’s best player when you excel no matter the circumstances. In other words, if Hill deserved to even be in this conversation he would be putting up even better numbers with a lesser quarterback. He would have stepped up his game. And perhaps the Dolphins would still be in the postseason conversation instead of floundering — are Dolphins allowed to flounder? — at 2-5.

But Hill didn’t do that. He had three catches for 24 yards against the Bills — and Tua played in part of that game. He had three catches for 40 yards against the Seahawks. Hill totaled four catches for 23 yards against the Titans. And he had one catch for eight yards against the Colts.

And yet, he wants to scream he’s the best the NFL has to offer? Seriously?

To put it bluntly, Hill isn’t even as good as Terry McLaurin of the Commanders when you look at quarterback play. Despite inconsistent, and sometimes plain bad, quarterbacks, McLaurin had over 75 catches and 1,000 yards in each of the last four seasons. That’s what great players do. They don’t shrink into the abyss when the quarterback goes down.

All of this makes Hill’s claim as the NFL’s best player to be laughable.

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