Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins during an NFL game.
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Tyreek Hill, wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins, during an NFL game.
The New England Patriots surprised the entire NFL with their head-turning 2025 season. After back-to-back 4-13 campaigns, they turned their fortunes around 180 degrees under new head coach Mike Vrabel and sophomore quarterback Drake Maye, winning 14 regular season games and three straight playoff contests before finally hitting the wall in a 29-13 Super Bowl loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
When five-time first-team All-Pro wide receiver Tyreek Hill came onto the open market Monday morning, with the Miami Dolphins reportedly releasing him with a year to go on his three-year, $90 million contract, some experts immediately declared that the Patriots should look to sign the 32-year-old.
Maye Needs a Deep Threat Wide Receiver
The Patriots accomplished what they did in 2025 without a wide receiver who served as a legitimate deep threat to pair with Maye, who was one of the NFL’s top long-ball passers.
Maye led the NFL with 8.9 yards per completion, and placed second for most completed passes of 20 yards or more with 67.
But the team’s leading receiver, Stefon Diggs (1,013 yards) averaged just 11.9 yards per catch, 75th in the NFL. Third-year receiver Kayshon Boutte averaged 16.9, fifth in the league, but did not seem to have the full trust of Maye and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, getting just 46 targets all season, tied for fourth on the team out of the five non-rookies in the Patriots wide receiver room.
Hill averages 13.9 yards per catch over his entire career, and has topped 1,000 yards receiving six times in his 10-year career. In 2023 he led the NFL with a career-best 1,799 yards.
Patriots May Have WR Room Vacancy
Hill’s availability may look especially enticing to the Patriots because due to his coming $26.5 million salary cap hit, Diggs is looking like a prime candidate to be cut by New England.
“Hill is an eight-time Pro Bowler, five-time First-Team All-Pro and Super Bowl champion. He has a case to be a Hall of Famer one day, but is rehabbing a major leg injury,” noted reporter Aaliyan Mohammed of the Boston-area sports channel NESN.com. “He had surgery in September to repair a dislocated left knee and multiple torn ligaments, including his ACL, according to what his agent Drew Rosenhaus told ESPN’s Adam Schefter last year.”
The NESN writer added that, “if the Patriots release Diggs because his cap hit is too high to justify keeping him, signing Hill could be a lateral move.”
Former NFL No. 2 overall draft pick and college Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III became one of the highest-profile voices pushing the Patriots to sign Hill, saying on Monday, “Maye was the best deep ball thrower in football this year. If Tyreek Hill gets back to 90 percent of what he was, the Patriots get a massive mismatch chess piece on their board.”
Red Flags With Hill
In addition to the knee injury that cut Hill’s season short after just four games last year and could cost him some or even all of his games in 2026 — though he appeared among the celebrities at Super Bowl LX appearing to walk normally — Hill comes with another significant red flag. Namely, his off-field behavior.
The veteran wide receiver has faced domestic violence charges on multiple occasions, dating back to his collegiate career at Oklahoma State.
Most recently, he was accused of at least eight violent incidents by his estranged wife, Keeta Vaccaro, who made the allegations in divorce papers filed in September.
Hill also started last season with a traffic stop for alleged reckless driving outside of the Dolphins home of Hard Rock Stadium as he showed up for Miami’s home opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The traffic charges were later dismissed by a court hearing officer.