The Dolphins named 13 players team captains this year and safe to say it didn’t bring them any luck. Mike McDaniel was reported to have shown faith in players to hold each other accountable and allowed them to create a “leadership group”. This approach was similar to the one that ultimately led to his predecessor Joe Philbin’s downfall and McDaniel was labeled as a soft coach. However, following the defeat to the Jets and the Tyreek Hill drama, the HC is showing his strong side.

Tyreek Hill has had a year to forget. From battling a wrist injury throughout the season to playing without his trusted QB, Tua Tagovailoa, for several weeks, Hill failed to recapture the form of his last two seasons with the Dolphins and things came to a boil against the Jets on Sunday.

With his team still in contention to win the contest, Hill opted out of the final quarter of the game to sit on the bench. While he claimed that the “coach kind of pulled me out,” McDaniel said he was “informed that he was unavailable, right before a drive.” The HC added that he was not informed about any injury that would have kept him out and that, “there were guys on the field that were competing,” his focus was on winning the game. While McDaniel chose not to address the situation directly after the game, he did sit down with the player later and has set the record straight.

Both the HC and the GM Chris Grier addressed the media on Tuesday revealing they had discussions with Hill a day before. Talking about his actions in New York, McDaniel said, “I think I was very direct with him. He was very honest and it was great terms that we were discussing. Discussed multiple things, including without wavering that it’s not acceptable to leave a game and it won’t be tolerated in the future, and he embraced accountability. I wouldn’t say there’s anything necessarily to fix as much as we had to clear the air in a rough and tumultuous situation.”

The Dolphins had rallied to cut the Jets’ lead to five points after scoring a touchdown. However, on the next drive the Jets, led by Aaron Rodgers, scored again to end Miami’s post season hopes. Both teams scored 14 points each in the last quarter, but Miami had to do without Hill, who sat out the last 15 minutes of the game.

The defeat ended Miami’s season with an 8-9 record, meaning they finished without a winning season for the first time since 2019. But the antics of Hill and his comments about his future afterward would have been a bigger concern for McDaniel. But it looks like he is laying down the law.

“It’s pretty simple. You let guys know we’re at the point where there are expectations and if your actions continually lead to finable offenses, then you don’t want to be here. It’s very clear. I think it’s not an indictment necessarily of all, but we are subject to everyone’s actions as a team, and we’ll address them as such,” the HC added in his press conference.

Hill ended the season with 959 yards and six touchdowns on 81 catches, but it was the first time since 2019 that he finished with fewer than 1,000 yards. Against the Jets on Sunday, he had a poor outing with just two catches for 20 yards, before controversially sitting out the last quarter.

Dolphins’ early end to the season means Hill misses out on the postseason for the first time in his career and safe to say he wasn’t pleased about it.

“There’s a lot of things that I need to reassess about my career. I just gotta do what’s best for me and my family, whether that’s here or wherever the case may be. I’m finna open that door myself. I’m out, bro. It was great playing here. But at the end of the day. I gotta do what’s best for my career. I’m too much of a competitor to be just out there,” he said after the game.

These comments soon led to speculation about Hill’s future in Miami, with many seeing this as an equivalent of demanding a trade. As things stand, Hill won’t be able to leave the Dolphins on his own accord. He is still under contract with the franchise through the 2026 season due to the restructured extension, which is worth up to $90 million over three years. Hence, for him to move out of Miami, the team would have either release or trade him. But according to GM Grier, none of that is happening.

Grier says Hill didn’t ask for a trade

There would be no shortage of suitors if the Dolphins do decide to trade for Hill, but that is not on their agenda as of right now. In fact, despite Hill’s outburst, GM Grier insisted that the receiver has not asked for a trade.

Grier revealed that he had, “productive conversations,” with Hill. “In a frustrating season he was very emotional in a game where we had a chance coming back from 2-6…And I think all of that with him playing through his injury just kind of bubbled to a point and from our conversations, again we’ll keep that private, but we had productive conversations.”

While Hill hasn’t clarified his post game comments about, Grier mentioned, “he never asked for a trade with me.” Losing Hill won’t be an ideal situation for Miami. In his first season with the Dolphins in 2022, Hill was second in the NFL in both receptions (119) and yards (1,710) and had seven touchdowns. He led the NFL in receiving yards last season with 1,799, tied for the league lead in touchdowns (13) and was second in receptions (119).

Hill is invaluable to McDaniel’s hopes helping Miami return to the post season, but as the HC clarified the receiver and all the players will have to put the team first and not cross the line when it comes to commitment to the larger cause.