It’s not like Patrick Mahomes was throwing a parade the day the Chiefs dealt Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins. No one wanted to see him go, least of all the quarterback whose skill set so perfectly matched his Roman candle of a receiver.
But by the time the trade went down, it was hardly the news to Mahomes that it became for the rest of a sports world that seemed to treat it like Kansas City general manager Brett Veach went from zero to 60 at a record clip. The quarterback was apprised throughout, from initial negotiations that seemed to have Hill destined to stay, to how Davante Adams’s contract blew that up, to Hill getting permission to seek a trade partner, to the trade itself.
And while all that, of course, doesn’t mean he won’t have to reckon with the realities of subtracting such a unique player from the offense, it did help soften the blow.
