Dolphins
Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill finished last season with some of the lowest numbers in his career with 81 receptions for 959 yards and six touchdowns. Hill said he’s been working hard this entire offseason and is putting his full focus on football.
“This whole offseason, I’ve been busting my tail,” Hill said, via Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN. “I told my dad — I want to see what it looks like when I just focus on football, on myself and family … I feel like I haven’t been giving the best version of Tyreek my whole entire career. I’ve always been trying to be here and be there, but me being able to slow down a little bit, train and bust my tail for myself and then also for this community and this team, I feel like it’ll be worth it.”
When asked what focusing on football means to him, Hill responded that he’s putting in extra work on the field and as a leader.
“Just being present every day, on time, doing things extra, like catching footballs after practice conditioning,” Hill said. “Whenever I’m tired, being that vocal leader in the locker room for guys, just being the dude Miami paid me to be and what I know I can be … I got here through hard work and sometimes, when you get to a certain spot in your life where you want to be, you’re kind of like, ‘OK, it’s cool now.’ Like I said, me being able to slow down my life a lot, enjoy my kids a little bit in this offseason, I realized that I’ve got to continue to grind, man.”
Hill feels like he’s matured a lot as he enters Year 10 of his career.
“We have a real nice chance to be special here this year. I think guys have matured a lot,” Hill said. “I’ve matured a lot. Coach has even matured a lot, so that’s awesome, man. We are all growing together, having a great laugh in the locker room, so we’re just going to continue to build.”
Jets
Jets CB Sauce Gardner signed a record four-year, $120.4 million contract extension, making him the highest-paid cornerback of all time. When asked about signing the deal after struggling at points last season, Gardner thinks things are being blown out of proportion after establishing a reputation as the league’s best corner before 2024.
“I’m Sauce,” Gardner said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN. “I mean that in the most humble way. Like no matter what I do, they’re going to make a huge deal out of it. I can miss a tackle. There’s a lot of people that miss tackles, but I just understand that I’m me. So people are just going to like blow things out of proportion.”
Gardner said he’s not taking outside criticism personally because he’s always his biggest critic.
“Nobody’s a bigger critic of me than myself, you know, so it’s not something that throws me off guard because even though some people could say I‘m being over-hated and stuff like that, I’m already so hard on myself,” Gardner said.
Gardner is grateful for owner Woody Johnson‘s faith in him.
“It’s just great that the coaching staff and Mr. Johnson all believed in me because, despite what people say, they watched the tape,” he said. “I’m sure they watch every single play for my three years. That’s what helped them come up with the idea that we’re going to sign this guy to a long-term extension.”
Patriots
- Per Mike Reiss, Patriots WR Ja’Lynn Polk was not present at the start of practice. Reiss was told Polk passed his initial physical but had some minor muscle tightness.
- New England DT Christian Barmore said he’s down to 305 pounds and playing faster after weighing 325 pounds two years ago. (Mark Daniels)
- Patriots tried out DB Keydrain Calligan, LB Jimmy Ciarlo, LB K.J. Cloyd, and DB Kedrick Whitehead.
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