It might not seem like any news related to Tyreek Hill has much to do with the Cincinnati Bengals. However, the situation surrounding the Miami Dolphins superstar reveals compelling parallels between both franchises that may not be apparent at first glance.
Hill suffered a gruesome knee injury in Week 4 that he's already had surgery for, putting him out for the season. Miami has built its entire offense around The Cheetah's skill set, yet now Mike McDaniel is scrambling to save his job, in part because Hill didn't live up to the huge contract the Dolphins rewarded him with even before his injury.
So how exactly does this apply to the similarly-struggling Bengals, whose own biggest-name players are bandied about as weekly trade bait? Well, it has a lot to do with the approach to roster building.
Cincinnati might be able to glean a valuable lesson from an instance where the Fins are learning the very hard way.
Bengals should reconsider roster construction in the wake of Tyreek Hill's expected post-injury release
According to sources cited by CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones, there's serious doubt that Hill will meet his desired benchmark to be ready for a Week 1 return next season. Plus, he'd have to pass a physical before the start of the new league year, which Jones' sources suggested makes it "next to impossible" that the Dolphins would shell out any guaranteed money left on Hill's contract.
Here's Jones' explanation of the final year of Hill's contract, which sheds light onto the complications of his injury and how difficult it'd be to justify keeping him in Miami at his current price tag:
"The 2026 contract year has $29.9 million in non-guaranteed base salary, including $11 million in guaranteed salary if Hill is on the roster on the third day of the 2026 league year. A $5 million roster bonus is due on the same day, meaning that the Dolphins would guarantee Hill $16 million if he's on the roster come March 14. Because the final year was mostly cosmetic, the final year of the contract did not include money that would guarantee in the event of injury. "
Although Hill was playing at a higher level through four games this year than he was in 2024 — thanks in large part to the health of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa — he still didn't look quite as explosive compared to years past. Nevertheless, even a Cheetah who loses a step or two is faster than most of the NFL's wide receivers.
But now in the wake of such a brutal injury, Hill has hamstrung the Dolphins to a large degree. This is where the Bengals could recognize a potential problem and do something about it.
Not to suggest that Cincinnati should trade Ja'Marr Chase after paying him top-of-market value. What I'm thinking, however, is how the Bengals also paid Tee Higgins big money — albeit at something of a hometown discount rate.
Per OverTheCap.com, Higgins' cap hit ($26.75 million) is just a bit higher than Chase's ($26.23 million) in 2026. If there was ever a time to sell high on him, it might be sooner rather than later.
It's not like Higgins is some burdensome contract. It's more that he proportionally costs as much as he does relative to the forever-frugal Bengals. Like Miami, Cincinnati skimped on investing enough in its offensive line, and we've seen the consequences. Namely, a unit that can't run block and got Joe Burrow seriously injured again.
The Dolphins ain't much better. They sunk so much cash into paying both Hill and stud wideout Jaylen Waddle, only to fail to protect Tua and get him concussed on multiple occasions.
Miami suffered a big blow when left tackle Terron Armstead retired before the 2025 campaign. Armstead masked a lot of deficiencies in the trenches, helping make up for a very poor interior o-line. Sound familiar, Bengals fans? Except we don't have our own Terron Armstead. We should have with Orlando Brown Jr., but he's not met sky-high expectations since his arrival.
Brown is going to enter the 2026 offseason as a prime salary cap casualty candidate. Then what's the plan up front for the Bengals? I shudder to ponder such a thing, given the front office's inability to evaluate talent at that spot, among others.
Look, one or two huge hits on draft picks could change this whole narrative around for both Miami and Cincinnati. The problem is, both organizations seem intent on doubling down on their flaws, and shelling out cash at self-evident positions of major strength. Everything seems backwards.
The game of football starts and ends in the trenches. Would it shock you to know that, as of now, PFF has the Dolphins and Bengals with the fifth- and seventh-worst respective run defenses? Miami is eighth-worst in run blocking and 30th in pass protection. Cincinnati is DFL and 28th in those categories.
Like the Dolphins, the Bengals need to rethink how they're allocating their resources amid an awful run of drafts, and should strongly consider a huge identity shift. That could mean Zac Taylor gives McDaniel a run for his money as the next NFL coach fired.