Baker Delivers Tyreek Tribute

Hill was the Miami Dolphins 2022 MVP but brought than just on-field contributions

Anybody who watched the Miami Dolphins in 2022 easily could see how Tyreek Hill ended up winning team MVP honors with his big plays and clutch production, but his teammates saw things that werent' quite so obvious but also made a big difference.

Linebacker Jerome Baker explained during a recent appearance on the Varsity House podcast another way Hill made a big impact after joining the Dolphins last season.

"He brought that winning culture," Baker told host Shaun Crawford, a former cornerback at Notre Dame. "It's hard to build a winning team without any winners. There was nobody that truly won. So it was kind of hard to see like, oh, this is what winners do. None of us knew. When he came in, he brought that swagger up like, this is what we need to do. This is how we should play. But he didn't come with that I'm better than you attitude.

"I'd say he's like one of the best teammates you can have. He's the superstar Tyreek Hill all that, but if you take away that, he still is a great teammate. He's, let's all get together and do this. Essentially, he's the reason I had my Halloween party oh, let's have a Halloween party, invite all the guys, he was that teammate of let's get a ping-pong table (in) the locker room and let's have fun with each other. Like, let's do that. And he really brought that to life. He was a very big advocate for that and people will say what they want about Tyreek Hill, whatever, but if you met him and you're a teammate of his, he genuinely cared for you. He's genuinely just a great teammate. He brought that winning culture. I mean, that's why he is who he is."

HILL "BY FAR" THE BEST RECEIVER IN THE NFL

Along with earning team MVP honors in a vote from South Florida media, Hill was named a first-team All-Pro for the fourth time in his eight-year NFL career and extended his perfect streak of Pro Bowl invitations to make it 8-for-8.

Hill's ridiculous speed was on display several times during the season, starting with the Week 2 comeback victory against the Baltimore Ravens when he scored on touchdowns of 48 and 60 yards and again against the Chargers when he picked up a fumble and raced around and past the L.A. defense for another touchdown, among others.

Baker said he realized how different Hill's speed is during training camp.

"There's no way you think you could play one-on-one with Tyreek Hill, (so) all right, I'm gonna put somebody over the top," Baker said. "When you do that, you take away from your defense in some type of way. And he created so many different challenges, so many different challenges. Guys always say they're fast. But the first time I was like, Oh, this guy is super fast, it was training camp. ... He can change your angle in a heartbeat. He could get to his top speed in like three steps. He's smaller, so those smaller guys, they're harder to really grab sometimes. So that's my first time like, 'Man, this dude plays fast.' And I think our team just in general, we just have a fast team, with (Jaylen Waddle), Tyreek Hill. You gotta look at all the pieces we had. We just had speed everywhere."

Baker didn't hesitate when asked whether Hill is the best wide receiver in the NFL, which isn't surprising considering Hill is his teammate.

But the way he explained it was noteworthy.

"By far," Baker said. "He's the best receiver because ... who are you going line up one-on-one with him? You name it, he's shown up and hit it. Put any quarterback with him, they're going to love Tyreek Hill regardless of who it is. He put up numbers with whoever you put out there."

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