After Tyreek Hill’s contract extension talks stalled, he was traded to the Miami Dolphins, where he got a salary bump as a reward. Let’s take a look at Hill’s new contract, his salary cap impact, and why his deal is not quite what it seems.
Tyreek Hill’s contract details and bonuses
After being traded, Hill signed a four-year contract extension worth $120 million. The deal made him the highest-paid wide receiver in the league and included $72.2 million in total guarantees. Hill received a $25.5 million signing bonus, with his salary and roster bonuses fully guaranteed through the 2023 season.
Of the $72.2 million in guarantees, $52.5 is fully guaranteed at signing. The remaining $19.7 million in guarantees can be found with his base salary in 2024. That money becomes fully guaranteed in March 2023 if Hill is on the Dolphins‘ roster.
Hill has five years remaining on his contract
The 2022 season was set to be the final one for Hill on his old deal. Therefore, the four-year extension now means that Hill is under contract for five more years. Hill is set to be with the Dolphins through the 2026 season and would become a free agent in 2027. However, the structure of the deal makes it likely that Hill may not see out all of those five years.
The Dolphins have a couple of opportunities to move on from Hill
The sticker price on the Hill deal — $120 million over four years — is somewhat misleading. The key is that Hill is set to earn around $74 million through the next three years ($24.7 million per year). After that, the remaining money on the deal is not guaranteed at all.
In the 2025 season, Hill has a $21.8 million salary and a $1 million roster bonus. The salary cap cost to the Dolphins of having Hill on their roster would be $28.0 million. However, the dead money if they were to move on comes out at just $10.2 million, a saving of almost $18 million.
If Hill does remain on the roster through 2025, it gets very expensive in 2026. That year contains $43.9 million in base salary and a $1 million roster bonus. All of that comes to a salary cap number of $50.1 million. Even if the cap booms between now and then, that will be expensive for a WR. Therefore, the numbers at $30 million per year are somewhat fake. The Dolphins can make it a three-year, $75.1 million deal by cutting Hill in 2026.
Hill’s agent does appear to have tried to make sure Hill will see 2025 at the very least. The structure of the contract has a $10 million roster bonus in 2023 and a cap number of over $30 million. The hope is that the Dolphins will pay that roster bonus as a signing bonus. That would then mean cutting Hill in 2025 would leave the Dolphins with over $15 million in dead money, making it a less attractive proposition to move on from him.