ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Tyreek Hill avoided any punishment from the NFL regarding its investigation of legal proceedings involving him, but he didn't avoid a pointed discussion with Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt.
“I had a good visit with him earlier this week,” Hunt said Saturday following the team's first full squad practice at training camp. “I'm not going to get into the details of that conversation, but it was a very frank conversation talking to him about his responsibilities as he comes back to be a Kansas City Chief.”
Hill made a triumphant return to the club on Saturday. A raucous crowd greeted Hill chanting “Tyreek” as he traveled down the pathway leading to the practice fields at Missouri Western State University. He outstretched his arms as if receiving the affection from the fans. Hill made several big plays during the practice, each one eliciting huge cheers from the more than 8,000 fans on hand.
The star receiver had been absent from the Chiefs since April 25 when general manager Brett Veach announced the club had mutually agreed for Hill to step away from all team activities. That came after a TV station aired portions of an audio recording of a secretly taped conversation between Hill and his former fiancee.
The NFL and the Chiefs accessed the recording before it became public earlier this month. Hunt said hearing the entire recording put it in better context, but he still had concerns with how Hill expressed himself.
“I thought there was some inappropriate language in that tape, and I'm sure Tyreek wishes he could have it back,” Hunt said.
Hunt feels the NFL made the right decision based on the available information. With the investigation taking place during the offseason, Hunt believes the league conducted a thorough review of the situation before determining Hill's status.
“That allowed us to sit back and wait for that investigation to be closed,” Hunt said. “We were able to get some information from the league in terms of what they learned, and that put us in a position where we could make the decision to have him back on the team.”
Hunt said the Chiefs did not consider any discipline of its own against Hill after the NFL concluded its investigation with no penalty issued.
“We did ask him to stay away from the team this spring, and in a way that was a penalty of its own sort,” Hunt said. “But we didn't consider additional discipline beyond that.”
