Tyreek Hill Early Life & Background:
Tyreek Hill (born March 1, 1994, in Douglas, Georgia, U.S.) is one of the NFL’s most explosive and successful wide receivers. He contributed to the Kansas City Chiefs' victory in Super Bowl LIV in 2020.However, at times his on-field brilliance has been overshadowed by run-ins with police.
Derrick Shaw and Anesha Sanchez were the parents of Hill. Both of his parents were athletes — they played basketball and competed in track and field. He was largely raised by his grandparents, Virginia and Herman Hill, and his childhood was difficult. The family struggled financially, and Herman Hill spent time in prison on several occasions.
In a 2022 episode of his podcast It Needed To Be Said, Tyreek Hill recalled that during his senior year of high school they didn’t even have electricity. He said he focused on football because “it was my way to make money… I knew football would take care of me and my family.”
Besides football, Tyreek Hill was also a standout track-and-field athlete in high school, excelling in the 100-meter and 200-meter races. He later enrolled at Garden City Community College and played on the football team. As a sophomore, he recorded 659 rushing yards and 532 receiving yards.
In 2014 he transferred to Oklahoma State University, where he totaled 1,811 all-purpose yards in his first season and ranked second in the nation with 996 combined kickoff and punt return yards. He was also a star runner on the track team. However, in December 2014, he was dismissed from both teams after being arrested and charged with domestic assault and battery against his pregnant girlfriend (the sentence was later dismissed in 2018). Tyreek Hill played his final year of college football in 2015 at the University of West Alabama.
In the 2016 NFL Draft, the Kansas City Chiefs selected Tyreek Hill in the fifth round (165th overall). He was selected to the Pro Bowl after catching 61 catches for 593 yards and six scores in his rookie campaign. Known for his agility and speed, he surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in each of the next two seasons.
But off-field issues continued. In March 2019, a Kansas child-welfare agency investigated a fracture in the arm of Tyreek Hill’s three-year-old son and temporarily placed the child in custody. Prosecutors believed a crime had occurred but ultimately filed no charges because they couldn’t determine who caused the injury.
The Chiefs suspended Tyreek Hill, though he returned at the start of the 2019 season. He suffered a shoulder injury in the first game and missed the next four, yet the team finished 12-4 and reached Super Bowl LIV (2020). In that game, Hill led Kansas City with 9 receptions for 105 yards as the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 31-20.
In the 2020 season, Tyreek Hill scored 15 touchdowns and Kansas City returned to the Super Bowl, but lost 31-9 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
After six seasons in Kansas City, Hill was traded to the Miami Dolphins in 2022 for five draft picks. Miami signed him to a four-year, $120 million contract, making him the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history at the time. He was coming off a strong 2021 season with 111 catches for 1,239 yards and 9 touchdowns. His elite play continued in Miami — he recorded 1,710 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns in 2022, helping the Dolphins reach the playoffs for the first time in six years, though they lost in the wild-card round.
Soon, more legal trouble followed. In June 2023, a Miami Beach marina employee claimed Hill slapped the back of his head after an argument. Hill called it a “stupid mistake” and settled with the accuser. No criminal charges were filed.
Despite the off-field drama, 2023 was a phenomenal season: he led the NFL in yards (1,799), touchdowns (13), and yards per game (112.4). He also became the first wide receiver to make the Pro Bowl in each of his first eight seasons. His receiving yardage ranked seventh-highest in a single season in league history, and he became the first NFL player with multiple 1,700-yard seasons. The Dolphins returned to the playoffs but again lost in the wild-card round.
On September 8, while heading to the Dolphins’ 2024 season opener, Miami-Dade County police stopped Hill for speeding. During the traffic stop, he rolled his window up instead of lowering it as instructed. Body-camera footage showed officers removing him from the car, handcuffing him, and forcing him face-down onto the ground. A teammate who stopped to help was also briefly handcuffed.
Police cited Hill for reckless driving and not wearing a seat belt, and the incident became national news. A few days later, Hill accepted responsibility, saying, “I could have done better… I have to follow the rules. I have to do what everyone else does.” However, he also said the arresting officer should be fired.