Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce said he expects former teammate and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill to get ‘nothing but love’ for his return to Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday night.
The Miami Dolphins will travel to face the Kansas City Chiefs in an AFC Wild Card Round playoff game, airing exclusively on Peacock.
Hill was drafted by the Chiefs and spent six seasons with the team before he was traded to Miami in March 2022.
Kelce and Hill were both integral parts of the Chiefs team that won Super Bowl LIV in 2020.
The duo’s catches from Patrick Mahomes helped take down the Buffalo Bills in the instant-classic Divisional Round game that eventually changed the NFL’s overtime rules in Jan. 2022.
Travis Kelce believes Kansas City will show ex-Chief Tyreek Hill ‘nothing but love’ on Saturday
Hill was a Chief for six seasons before being traded to Miami in March 2022 for five draft picks
‘I expect KC to give him nothing but love, until he’s putting up a peace sign or something like that, then he might hear a few boos,’ Kelce said of Hill Thursday.
‘Who he was for this community, it speaks volumes. Every single kids camp he had, he made it his effort to go out and shake those hands and give those kids an experience they’ll never have again.’
‘That’s why Tyreek is loved in this city,’ Kelce continued. ‘He’ll forever be loved in this city, because of who he was off the field in this community as well. It’s going to be electric just to see him.
‘He’s always one of the best football players in the league when he’s on the field.’
Kelce mentions Hill’s youth football camps, which he put on around the country, with a focus in the Kansas City area, while he was a Chief.
Hill’s camps were popular with kids ages 6 to 16, especially as normal life resumed after the height of the coronavirus pandemic during the Summer of 2021.
Hill is a candidate for NFL MVP and is viewed as one of the best wide receivers in the league
Hill is a candidate for NFL MVP and is viewed as one of the best wide receivers in the league
One camp Hill hosted in Columbia, Missouri, two hours East of Kansas City, had 700 kids attend
Hill was so engrained in the Kansas City football scene that he was an assistant high school coach at nearby Lee’s Summit North.
Kelce also mentioned Hill’s peace-sign celebration, which the now-Dolphin pulled out during a 2020 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he had 269 receiving yards as defensive back Antoine Winfield could not catch up with him.
Not expecting a rematch with the then-Tom-Brady-led Buccaneers, especially in Super Bowl LV, Winfield threw the taunt back in Hill’s face after the Tampa Bay defense stopped Kansas City’s offense for the final time in the contest.
Hill has squared with the Chiefs once an opponent earlier this season, a 21-14 Dolphins win in Germany.