McDaniel's Emotional Assessment of Hill Incident

The Miami Dolphins head coach said he was proud of the way his players handled a difficult situation

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second half at Raymond James Stadium. / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Mike McDaniel was very measured with his words Monday, as he usually is, but there also was a lot of emotion as he spoke about the aftermath of the incident involving Tyreek Hill before the Miami Dolphins’ season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Hill was briefly detained and handcuffed by police after he was pulled over for a traffic violation outside Hard Rock Stadium. Defensive lineman Calais Campbell, the 2019 winner of the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, also wound up being briefly handcuffed after he got involved to try to help out Hill.

 “Personally, it's been hard for me not to find myself more upset the more I think about it, and that's because of my teammates and trying to put myself in that emotion or in that situation that they've described emotionally, and then knowing more than that, the thing that (messes) me up, honestly, to be quite frank, is knowing that I don't know what that feels like,” McDaniel said Monday. “I think it's very, very important that two things should be true, that you let due process work and information to be gathered to appropriately project an opinion, however I can't get away from the fact of what I know their experience to be.

“Like, you try to put yourself, if I'm Calais Campbell, and I'm 38 years old, and you're going to work … you're a gigantic, strong, just miraculous man that has done right in all ways, shapes and forms and there's just elements to that that's very triggering.”

DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE INCIDENT

Hill said after the game he didn’t understand why the situation escalated to the point he was put in handcuffs, adding he was respectful to the officers at the scene. His attorney, Julius Collins, said in a statement that Hill’s team would be “exploring all legal remedies.”

Steadman Stahl, the president of the South Florida Benevolent Police Association, released a statement Monday putting the blame on Hill, stating he was uncooperative.

Two representations of the situation involving Tyreek Hill, one from Hill’s attorney and another from the South Florida Police Benevolent Association. I’m posting both of them below: pic.twitter.com/lZYZZuTGty

— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) September 9, 2024

One of the officers involved in the incident has been reassigned to administrative duties pending an internal investigation. The bodycam video was released Monday evening.

McDaniel said opinions should be reserved until all the facts come out.

“I think that you let the process take its time,” he said. “I think for anyone to have an opinion, if there are facts, they should have facts before they have an opinion. I'm confident that everything will get reviewed, and I am confident that this is too much in the spotlight to just sweep under the rug. I think facts supersede everything. I don't think it's fair to anybody to rush to judgment. That's why my emotion comes from the journey, the experience, my teammates, and then extrapolated to other things. That's where the emotion comes from. But I think you have to let the process play out. I think that's super important."

McDANIEL PROUD OF HIS PLAYERS

McDaniel praised Hill’s teammates for supporting him from the time of the incident, starting with Campbell, Jonnu Smith and Odell Beckham Jr., to his arrival in the locker room and throughout the game.

Hill had seven catches for 130 yards and an 80-yard touchdown in the 20-17 victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"It's what you hope your team is comprised of. Situations that you can't plan for sometimes give you the best window into where your team's at. I am very proud that they see each other as teammates and hold that in regard the way they do. You spend as much time you are so interwoven into the story that is their lives, that you hope that teammates understand that we are extended family and so I was very happy that a guy in a situation like that didn't feel alone.

“I was very, very impressed by him, individually and collectively, his teammates. I was just very impressed that the teammates minimized whatever was going on as much as possible. Because I think teammates, they did a great job of understanding what the game means to Tyreek and tried to assist him as best I could to be able to do what he loves.”

It's probably not likely this incident will be resolved and put behind before the Dolphins face the Bills on Sunday, but McDaniel is confident it won’t be a distraction.

"I would venture to guess that one of the favorite parts of being in the NFL and being on an NFL team is that we are able to immerse ourselves into something that's a tangible goal that you have some control over, and I think that a lot of times it's therapeutic to be in the process of NFL game week and the Thursday night division opponent,” he said. “There's a lot of very constructive things to think about. And sometimes that can be our greatest gift is that gift of supreme distraction. I think our guys are highly motivated, especially when the world creeps in on you and rattles you a little bit. When I see the guys tomorrow I have a pretty sound expectation of guys being very, very focused on our next opponent, which happens to be in the division, they happen to play in Buffalo."