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Kansas City Chiefs

Chiefs confident they can keep good thing going minus Tyreek Hill

The Dolphins acquired Tyreek Hill in a blockbuster trade last week

By Megan Turner OutKick
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The Kansas City Chiefs wanted to keep wide receiver Tyreek Hill, but head coach Andy Reid said it came to a point during contract negotiations that it just wasn’t feasible.

"I love Tyreek Hill," Reid said Monday at the NFL meetings in Palm Beach, Florida. The Chiefs last week traded Hill to the Miami Dolphins for five draft picks. "There’s no rift between Tyreek Hill and myself. I thought he deserved an opportunity if that’s where he wanted to go. He’s a family man that has a few kids and he’s got to be able to support them now and down the road, and this gives him an opportunity to do that. At the same time, it gives us great compensation.

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Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) celebrates with teammate quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) after catching a 10-yard touchdown pass during the first half of the AFC championship NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022, in Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) celebrates with teammate quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) after catching a 10-yard touchdown pass during the first half of the AFC championship NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

Reid said the team felt like Hill deserved an opportunity.

"We came in aggressive [with a contract offer], and after we got to a point, we just said, ‘Listen, in this day and age you have issues you have to deal with with the cap.’ So we felt like it was better to allow him to go ahead and be traded," Reid said, per ESPN. "You can go different routes with a player. You can play hardball or you can go about it the way I did, or we did."

Overthecap.com shows the Chiefs now have over $23 million in cap space, the fourth-most in the league, after starting the free-agency period with minimal space available.

"You’ve got to be able to manage that the right way," Reid said. "If you’re paying all of your money to a quarterback and you can’t surround him with players, that can be a problem. So you have to find a way with a Tyreek Hill maybe that you have to get rid of so you can replenish. That’s offense and defense. I’m not just talking about the offensive side."

Wide receiver Tyreek Hill #10 of the Kansas City Chiefs catches a first quarter touchdown pass in front of cornerback Chidobe Awuzie #22 of the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium on January 30, 2022 in Kansas City, Missouri. 

Wide receiver Tyreek Hill #10 of the Kansas City Chiefs catches a first quarter touchdown pass in front of cornerback Chidobe Awuzie #22 of the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium on January 30, 2022 in Kansas City, Missouri.  (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

In free agency, the team added some offensive weapons in wide receivers Marquez Valdes-Scantling and JuJu Smith-Schuster and running back Ronald Jones and added safety Justin Reid on the defensive side.

The team also signed offensive tackle Geron Christian, defensive back Luq Barcoo, linebacker Elijah Lee and wide receiver Corey Coleman in an effort to add depth on both sides of the ball.

In the Hill trade, the Chiefs acquired a 2022 first-rounder, a 2022 second-rounder, a 2022 fourth-rounder, a 2023 fourth-rounder and a 2023 sixth-rounder from the Miami Dolphins. Hill arrived to Miami with a cap hit of $6.23 million this season, but it then rises to $31.2 million in 2023.

Reid emphasized his trust in quarterback Patrick Mahomes to keep the Chiefs competitive.

FILE - AFC wide receiver Tyreek Hill, of the Kansas City Chiefs, is seen before competing at the 2022 Pro Bowl Skills Showdown Wednesday, February 2, 2022, in Las Vegas.  The Kansas City Chiefs traded wide receiver Tyreek Hill to Miami for a package of draft picks on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, and the Dolphins are giving the three-time All-Pro a $120 million, four-year contract extension, a person familiar with the moves told The Associated Press.

FILE - AFC wide receiver Tyreek Hill, of the Kansas City Chiefs, is seen before competing at the 2022 Pro Bowl Skills Showdown Wednesday, February 2, 2022, in Las Vegas.  The Kansas City Chiefs traded wide receiver Tyreek Hill to Miami for a package of draft picks on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, and the Dolphins are giving the three-time All-Pro a $120 million, four-year contract extension, a person familiar with the moves told The Associated Press. (Gregory Payan/AP Images for NFL, FIle)

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"Obviously, Patrick’s a big part of that [idea the team can stay competitive]," Reid said. "You want to surround him with good players, but that’s a sticky question because we did try to sign Tyreek at a certain cost. Once it gets past that, now you can see what we’re doing here with the players we brought in, and we feel they’re very good football players. So we’ll see. I mean the end result is going to be what takes place during the season, but Brett’s building this thing back where we feel comfortable that we can go win on Sundays."