Tyreek Hill's career with the Miami Dolphins may have come to an unexpected conclusion after a knee injury ended his 2025 season. This same injury, however, could significantly alter the Dolphins' offense.
While some in the media speculate the Dolphins could look to add a receiver via trade, others see Miami simply going through the motions while hoping for the best. Still others believe this could be the best thing for the Dolphins' offense.
With Tyreek Hill out of Miami's game plan, opposing defenses will have to change their plans to defend Mike McDaniel, and that might prove to be impossible.
Miami Dolphins losing Tyreek Hill may be a blessing in disguise for Mike McDaniel and Tua Tagovailoa
Over the course of the lead-in to Week 5, McDaniel and Tagovailoa both have answered questions about what they can expect from opposing defenses. Neither knows with any certainty if teams will continue to run a two-high safety look or put more men in the box to take away the run.
Hill forced defenses to play more physically at the line. They planned their defense around taking Hill out of the game, hoping Tagovailoa would be unable to make his second and tertiary reads. With Hill gone, Waddle will not pose the same threat that Hill did.
Waddle is fast, but he doesn't have the same speed or route-running ability that Hill had. This should lead to a different defensive approach that could open the passing game more.
Tagovailoa's first read has mostly been Hill. Even when he is out of the pocket, his focus continues to look for Hill first, and at times, he misses other open receivers and takes risks because Hill is electric. Without that option, Tagovailoa will need to slow down a bit more.
In 2023, without Hill on the field, Tagovailoa put up a 116.3 QB rating with an 81.7 completion rate according to ProFootballNetwork.com.
If the Dolphins can continue to run the ball against eight-man fronts, the play action is going to work better, and Tagovailoa will be able to find other receivers. Waddle isn't, or at least shouldn't, jump and run the same way that Hill did. It won't work. This is where McDaniel can shine.
For the limitations that Tagovailoa has as a quarterback, having Hill as the primary receiver is akin to the "cookie jar" that Jimmy Johnson once said was Dan Marino. Miami sacrifices its running game, as well as other key options in the offense, with Hill being the focus. That focus and attention are gone.
Defenses will give Miami new looks, and it will start as early as Week 5 against the Panthers. If McDaniel is the "offensive genius" that some believe, he will have an opportunity to prove it.
McDaniel's offense with Hill on the outside became a spectacle. Hill was either the star or the diversion. McDaniel, however, didn't know how to consistently flip between the two and instead let the defense decide.
The problem was that Tagovailoa was coached to read Hill's coverage and route first, so after that, the rest of what they were trying to accomplish in a play was predicated on what was happening to Hill.
With Hill out of the game, coverages should become more of a situational down-and-distance scheme, and McDaniel should exploit that. Without Hill, the offense should become wider in terms of player usage, not as an outlet, but as a primary focus and game plan.