Tyreek Hill reacts to Dolphins’ Eli Apple signing: ‘I get to embarrass him every day’

MIAMI GARDENS — Miami Dolphins star wide receiver Tyreek Hill had a fun way of looking at the team’s signing of cornerback Eli Apple, who has had a documented beef with Hill going back to when the two were on their previous teams.

“Now I get to embarrass him every day,” Hill said, tongue in cheek, after Friday’s practice.

But despite Hill’s urgency to win a practice matchup against the veteran cornerback signed in the wake of Jalen Ramsey’s knee injury, the rivals have not lined up against each other.

“Every time I try to go in 1-on-1s, it’s either (Xavien Howard) trying to go against me or Kader (Kohou) or Noah (Igbinoghene),” Hill explained as the reason, adding Howard keeps calling him out and he can’t back down to him. “I’m like, ‘Bro, let me go against somebody else. Let me go against Eli or Cam (Smith), somebody else.’”

What does Hill believe would happen when they finally match up?

“I’m going to try to bully him off the line,” he said. “I’m going to try something different. I’m going to try to push him off the line. I’m going to win the rep, though.”

Hill explained that Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel called him about the team signing Apple.

“I was like, ‘All right, cool.’

“He was like, ‘You ain’t got a problem with that?’

“I was like, ‘Nah, I ain’t got no problem with that. Why would I have a problem with that?’”

The Hill-Apple beef stems from Apple and the Cincinnati Bengals’ win over Hill’s Kansas City Chiefs in the 2021 AFC Championship Game. Apple instigated an exchange of tweets after his Bengals won to move on to the Super Bowl. Two weeks later, Hill posted laughing emojis when Apple allowed a go-ahead touchdown in the loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

Once Hill joined the Dolphins last season, he clearly didn’t forget ahead of Miami’s Week 4 game in Cincinnati, sending a message to Apple in a media scrum, “I owe you, boy.”

Hill said Friday the whole thing has been overblown.

“I feel like a lot of people just get filled into what’s going on in the social media, and that’s not really what it is,” he said. “I was fired up for us to be able to add another competitor to this team because that’s going to help us get better in the long run to have that depth.

“Eli, he’s a great guy. I know we’ve had some battles, but at the end of the day, man, we’re all trying to win, we’re all trying to get better.”

For his part, Apple said he had a positive first day with Hill at team facilities Sunday, where Hill spoke to him and introduced him to teammates.

Hill said his chemistry with Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa continues to develop heading into a second year with him.

“It’s grown crazy,” Hill said, highlighting one Thursday catch in particular. “The way he was able to throw it between three defenders was crazy. It just goes to show the amount of trust that he has in me. I just feel like it’s going to continue to grow.”

He added he wasn’t worried about the throw potentially leading him into a big hit: “Man, I play football. That’s what I signed up for, to get hit, right? I’m not scared. That’s what I do. … I’ve proved throughout my career I’m able to make those kind of catches through contact.”

Hill identified pre-snap penalties as something that needs to get cleaned up, and having the officials at practice to call them has been eye-opening for the offense.

After Hill said at Day 1 of training camp last week that the offseason incident involving an alleged slap of a marina employee is behind him, the NFL has not yet concluded its own investigation to determine any possible penalty against Hill.

“I haven’t heard nothing from the NFL,” he said Friday. “I believe that’s good news for myself.”

Roster moves

The Dolphins on Friday announced they signed cornerback Mark Gilbert and waived fullback John Lovett with an injury settlement.

Gilbert has appeared in eight career games, all with the Detroit Lions in 2021. He recorded three tackles, one pass defensed and one forced fumble. Gilbert is coming off leading the USFL in interceptions (four) with the Pittsburgh Maulers.