MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The only way the NFL‘s efforts to neuter the Miami Dolphins‘ most effective play would have been more transparent is if the league had rewritten its rulebook in aqua and orange.
Pro Football Talk pointed out on Thursday that the NFL has adjusted the language in its rulebook to clarify that the Dolphins’ “cheat motion,” as Mike McDaniel’s old boss Kyle Shanahan called it, is, in fact, an illegal advantage if the receiver moves forward or abruptly at the snap.
Miami Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill: Our Scheme Will ‘Wow’ Teams
McDaniel’s wildly successful 2023 wrinkle to the Shanahan offense gave Dolphins receivers a head of steam when the ball was snapped. But it’s illegal for those in motion to turn upfield before the snap, which apparently the Dolphins and others had gotten away with in games last season.
Miami’s motion package is heavily predicated on timing and precision. And if done correctly, the Dolphins should still be able to run those plays.
Just ask Tyreek Hill, who learned of the NFL’s new emphasis when he came off the practice field on Thursday. His reaction?
“Our head coach, he’ll find a way to make a way around that. He does a great job of creating schemes for us to get open,” Hill said. “So that’s why he’s one of the best offensive-minded coaches in the game.
“I feel like we ain’t gonna have a problem with that.”
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Plus, by all indications, McDaniel is already on to the next big thing, not trying to fine-tune the last big thing.
Each year McDaniel has been Dolphins coach, opposing teams have spent the first month of the season playing catchup to the new innovations that McDaniel dreamed up during the offseason.
On Thursday, Hill suggested that Year 3 will be no different.
“it’s crazy,” Hill said. “But I feel like we do feel like we do got some plays that’s gonna wow teams, because teams are already looking for certain motions whenever I line up a certain way or whenever [Jaylen] Waddle lines up a certain way.
“So we do got a few packages or a few motions that’s gonna be like, ‘Oh, where did that come from?’ [and] that’s gonna kinda like surprise the defense out of nowhere. It’s gonna be fun this year, man.”
Tyreek Hill Contract Update
Now that Waddle and Tua Tagovailoa have gotten their big contract extensions, Hill and safety Jevon Holland are seemingly the next up.
Hill has three years left on his existing deal, but wants an adjustment that puts him in line with the reset wide-receiver market.
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His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, attended Dolphins practice on Thursday, and his negotiations with the team have seemingly made progress.
“You see me out here practicing each and every day, man,” Hill said. “At this point, my focus is on helping this team win games. You feel me? I know it’s gonna come. Whenever it happens, my agent, he doing his thing.
“I just got done having a conversation with him. Conversations are positive right now. So we’re gonna keep it positive, man. But for right now, I’m gonna keep practicing every day trying to help this team win games.”
