The Miami Dolphins were able to lock down two of their most important players in quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and star, number-one rated wide receiver Tyreek Hill with two record-setting contract extensions. Hill’s restructured contract is worth $90M with $65M guaranteed, raising his four-year total to $106.5M of guaranteed money. Tagovailoa signed a four-year extension that is worth $214.M, the largest contract in Dolphins franchise history, and the third-highest paid player.
Both players have expressed their excitement for one another, how they both deserve this well-anticipated payday. There wasn’t a ton of celebration from either side, both are focused on what’s going to be best for the team and how they can impact the game.
Miami Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill and Tua Tagovailoa focused on end goals.
“I’m always hungry. I’m always trying to find ways to get better,” Hill said per Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN. “That’s the only way to be in this league. That’s how guys like myself last in the league, man, trying to get better, trying to help the team win…I’m grateful. I won’t ever take any of this for granted.”
Hill and Tagovailoa aren’t the only Miami Dolphins players to receive a raise; Austin Jackson and Jaylen Waddle both received restructured contracts to keep them around for a while. Not only are these players the highest-paid on the team, but they’re the ones that have taken on that leadership role, helping guide the team through their shares of success in the last two seasons.
Head coach Mike McDaniel has reiterated over and over throughout this offseason that sure he can coach and tell the players how to make the right plays on the field, but it’s what the players say and do to help influence and boost one another that leaves the lasting impression.
“This isn’t Mike’s team, this is our team. At the end of the day, that’s what it is,” Tagovailoa said. “Sort of our mantra of how we go there and do things is if I go out there and I throw a pick, it’s not Darrell Bevell that threw the pick, it’s not Mike McDaniel’s play call that threw the pick, that’s my name on that. That’s our offense’s name on that.”
No matter the amount of money, both have their minds set on being the best.
Tagovailoa is coming off of a monumental season, his first Pro Bowl nod of his career, and leading the Dolphins to its second consecutive playoff appearance. He completed 69.3 percent of his passes for a league-leading 4,624 yards with 29 touchdowns.
The duo of Tua and Tyreek Hill is unstoppable on the field. Arguably one of the most dominant pairings in all of football, when these two are on the field together, it’s lethal. Hill is coming off a near MVP season, racking up 1,799 receiving yards and 13 touchdown catches.
Hill told reporters that he was confident that the money would eventually come, but he was and is more focused on winning and ensuring the Dolphins made a good choice.
“We already had responsibility on our shoulders. We’ve been feeling like this,” Hill said. “We’ve got too competitive of a team and too great of guys on this team to not win games, and we all know that man. At the end of the day, we all know the money is going to come. The money is going to come whenever. What we are focused on right now is winning games, because we got a great group of guys, tremendous leaders on both sides of the ball, and you see it each and every day man. It’s fun to be a part of.”
