Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) warms up before an NFL game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, in Indianapolis. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com
The Dolphins, desperate to get their season on track after an embarrassing 33-8 loss to Indianapolis, are not trying to trade receiver Tyreek Hill, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported this week.
But if the Dolphins change their mind before the Nov. 4 trade deadline, his estranged wife’s allegations of domestic violence against Hill could complicate the situation. Those allegations were levied in a recent filing in their divorce proceedings.
On Tuesday, Hill’s agent vehemently denied allegations by his estranged wife, Keeta Vaccaro, that Hill was abusive to her several times during their 17-month marriage.
Hill’s lawyer, Julius Collins, said the allegations are untrue and an attempt by Vaccaro to “extort a large settlement offer from Mr. Hill, of which we believe Ms. Vacarro is not entitled in this 17-month marriage.”
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) watches the game from the sidelines late in the fourth quarter during an NFL game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Sunday, September 7, 2025. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com
Vaccaro’s attorney, Evan R. Marks, told the Miami Herald in an email that the statement about the allegations his client gave in an amended divorce petition “is Verified — meaning that she has sworn that the allegations contained therein are true and correct.”
Even if there is no criminal investigation, the NFL has the authority — in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement — to independently investigate allegations in a civil matter and discipline Hill under the league’s personal conduct policy. The NFL generally does not disclose which players are being investigated.
Any NFL investigation likely would need Vaccaro’s cooperation, and it’s unclear if she would cooperate. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has considerable latitude to suspend players who violate the league’s personal conduct code.
Because the threat of discipline exists, that could impact the trade market for Hill.
On another front, any team that acquires Hill would need to create enough cap space to do it. Here’s how it would work:
If Hill is traded after eight games, Miami would have paid $4.4 million of his $10 million base salary. That means the acquiring team would need to have or create cap space to accommodate the $5.55 million he would still be due, as well as his $105,822 per-game roster bonus. That would amount to a $6.613 million cap hit to accommodate Hill.
But the Dolphins could offer to pay some of his remaining salary, in order to potentially secure a higher draft pick in a trade. That would lessen the cap hit of the team acquiring him.
Hill has a $27.7 million cap hit this season, which declines to $12.7 million in dead money if he’s traded. His $29.9 salary next season is not guaranteed; he would have a $51.9 million 2026 Dolphins cap hit if he remains on the team under terms of his current contract.
The Dolphins would take a $15.6 million dead money cap hit for 2026 if they release or trade him next offseason, before June 1.
For now, that’s moot.
“I don’t think the Dolphins are thinking of trading Tyreek Hill now,” Schefter said Monday on “the Pat McAfee Show.” “But if the season continues to go this way, you would have to think that all options would be on the table.. They are not going to trade Tyreek Hill now. The Dolphins still think they have a good team”
Hill, 31, has never been suspended under the league’s personal conduct policy. He was the subject of a police investigation after his son sustained a broken arm in 2019. Police determined the injury was accidental and not child abuse. After a four-month investigation, the NFL found no evidence that Hill violated the personal conduct policy.
Hill had previously pleaded guilty to a domestic assault charge while in college. Hill denied both allegations.
The regression in the Dolphins’ vertical passing game, a problem for most of last season, continued in the opener.
Hill, who had four receptions for 40 yards, hasn’t had a reception longer than 30 yards since Week 2 of last season.
Asked about that this week, Mike McDaniel said: “He hasn’t caught a 30-yard reception for a multitude of reasons, but this last game, there were probably three different opportunities that the opportunity was taken away from him by his teammates’ lack of execution on their non-ball assignments.
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) on the bench during an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Saturday, August 23, 2025. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com
“There’s a litany of things, compounding variables when you’re talking about something like that and specifically with yesterday — I’m not sure for the entire whole season if I’d want to say it was the same thing, but for this past game it was definitely that. The opportunities were there. Just no one saw the throw and the catch because it didn’t exist because of a teammate.”
After catching 119 passes each of his first two seasons with the Dolphins, Hill had 81 last season. His receiving yardage dropped from a league-high 1,799 in 2023 to 959 last season.
Hill missed nearly a month of training camp and preseason with an oblique injury. Asked if that affected his chemistry with Tagovailoa on Sunday, Hill said: “No, I wouldn’t say that affected anything. I just think as an offense, we got to get going, and once you get into that groove, once you get into that rhythm – I mean, that’s when things start happening for us….
“Granted, those guys have a great defensive coordinator and those guys have some great players on that side of the ball. But I feel like at the end of the day, it falls on us. Offensively, receivers got to get open, and we got to attack the line of scrimmage, separate, attack edges and we got to protect Tua Tagovailoa. That’s the main thing. I feel like we will get better at that. This was a big kick in the [groin] for us, so I feel like next week we’ll be better.”
Miami Herald staff writer David Goodhue contributed to this report.