Tyreek Hill Says Fans Have Every Right to Be Mad at Him

Tyreek Hill was drafted two weeks ago by the Kansas City Chiefs. There have been many takes. And for the first time over the weekend, Tyreek spoke about his plans for the future and what he’s learned from the past.

“Those fans have every right to be mad at me, because I did something wrong, I let my emotions get the best of me. and I shouldn’t have did it,” said Hill. “They have every right to be mad. But guess what? I’m (about) to come back and be a better man, be a better citizen, and everything will take care of itself, and let God do the rest.”

OK that’s a start I guess. He talked about doing his counseling and playing football.

“I’m most definitely appreciative of everything, really just worked out,” Hill said. “I made it to the NFL … well, I (haven’t) made it yet, I’m trying to make it to the NFL. So everything worked out how it was supposed to.”

I’m not sure how to feel about all of this. I do like that Tyreek is standing up there fielding questions and saying, “look, I screwed up. I’m getting counseling. I blew it.” That’s more than a lot of domestic abusers are willing to say. The Chiefs seem complicit in getting him some real help too.

But again … he choked and beat his pregnant girlfriend and got nothing more than probation and now he gets to play on Sundays.

I guess my biggest thing in all of this is that it feels like the unintended message is that you can get away with this if you have the right lawyers and find the correct situation. You can still make it to the NFL. What you do privately doesn’t really matter if you’re big or fast or accurate with a football.

But that’s not the actual message because Tyreek’s sentencing was handled entire separately from football, and Mike Gundy made the right move. The perception, though, is obviously unfortunate for Tyreek.

So who really should we find fault with here? Tyreek for trying to rehabilitate his life and earn an living in the NFL? The Chiefs for taking a calculated risk on someone who is not a felon? The NFL for allowing such people into its league? Or the court for not sentencing him with a tougher verdict?

I’m obviously not advocating domestic violence here. I would like to see more on the victim and what happened with the child. Do we know anything about how that pregnancy turned out? I’ve not seen any follow up, and I’m not trying to delve into the private life of someone I don’t even know, but that seems like a big deal, no?

Either way, it seems like the acute outrage over the Chiefs signing Tyreek Hill comes up a little bit empty. There is risk all the way around, and the Chiefs might be a little stupid for taking a high risk-low reward (?) guy like Hill. I can’t jump into the mob of people calling for justice by the Chiefs though. That’s not really their place.

And it redirects where the attention should be anyway. Not on Tyreek or the NFL but on the victim of his crime and her family. We should care about news like this, but not for the reasons that are being put forth. This is a problem with a culture that values sports over pretty much everything else.

Because everything worked out “how it was supposed to” but really … did it?