Dolphins future with Tyreek Hill: Exploring avenues Miami faces with star wide receiver this offseason

The Miami Dolphins offseason got off to a hectic start before it even really began. In the aftermath of the team’s Week 18 loss to the New York Jets that dropped them to 8-9 and helped oust them out of the playoff race, star wideout Tyreek Hill put his future with the franchise firmly in question. At the time, Hill admitted that he was “out,” which had been taken as a willingness — if not outright request — of a trade out of Miami. 

Cooler heads have prevailed in the weeks following those comments and Hill spent Super Bowl weeks smoothing things over with the franchise. He acknowledged that he could’ve handled the situation better and noted that his comments merely came out of frustration of a losing season and missing the playoffs. Hill also said he wants to return to the Dolphins in 2025. 

While some may look at this latest development as the two sides locking back in and moving forward together, questions about Hill’s future with the team have still lingered as the offseason progresses. 

During Tuesday’s edition of the NFL Network’s “The Insiders,” NFL Media’s Cameron Wolfe discussed Hill’s situation with the Dolphins, noting that the team is open to keeping him. However, in the same breath, Wolfe added that he had not spoken to anyone within the organization that said they are 100% certain to retain him.  

So, that certainly leaves the door open to speculate on what the future holds for Hill. Below, we’ll look at the three avenues the team could go down with Hill — cutting, trading, or keeping the receiver — and discuss their likelihood. 

Avenue 1: Cutting Tyreek Hill

We’ll get this one out of the way quickly because it’s the least likely to happen for a number of different factors. First off, Hill is signed through the 2026 season and has a whopping dead cap charge of $55.9 million in 2025, according to Over the Cap. Even as a post-June 1 cut, Hill would have a $40.3 million dead cap this season, which is a nonstarter for the organization. Moreover, Hill still has value on the trade market even as he enters his age-31 season. It would be frankly organizational malpractice if the Dolphins outright released him and got nothing in return. Even in a down year where he battled a wrist injury, Hill was over 1,000 scrimmage yards for the fifth-consecutive season and is considered one of the top speedsters in the league. A team would certainly trade something of value for him, making an outright cut nearly impossible to consider. 

Avenue 2: Trading Tyreek Hill

Given that Hill momentarily put a trade on the table and the Dolphins potentially still being open to the possibility, a trade surrounding the wideout can’t be ruled out just yet. Financially, trading Hill without a post-June 1 designation would leave a $28.2 million dead cap charge for 2025. If they trade him with a post-June 1 designation, that would reduce to a $12.7 million dead cap charge and create $14.97 million in cap savings for 2025. That’s much more palatable than the outright cut we discussed above. 

As for the compensation, it’d be fascinating to see what the Dolphins could fetch for Hill. Back in 2022, the Raiders traded a first-round pick and a second-round pick to acquire Davante Adams from the Packers and also inked him to a market-setting $141.25 million extension. However, Adams was 29 at the time of that deal and Hill is set to turn 31 in March, which alters the calculous a bit from that recent example of star receiver trade. Hill may also look for a revamped contract as there is currently no guaranteed salary for 2026, which could also alter the trade price. 

Avenue 3: Keeping Tyreek Hill

Despite all the smoke, this is still the most likely outcome when the dust settles with Hill, as the Dolphins are simply a better team with him injected into their offense. The franchise has aspirations of reaching the playoffs rather than hitting any sort of reset button heading into 2025, so keeping Hill in-house makes the most sense.

Hill has the most receiving yards (4,468) in the NFL in the three seasons since he was traded to the Dolphins and is the only player in league history to record back-to-back 1,700-yard receiving seasons (2022-2023). Hill is at the core of how the Dolphins operate offensively and forms a strong receiver duo with Jaylen Waddle. Removing him from the equation makes everyone else around him — including quarterback Tua Tagovailoa — unquestionably worse. Outside of a no-brainer return in a trade, merely subtracting Hill from the offense doesn’t help Miami contend in the AFC in the here and now.