The explosive audiotape that reopened Tyreek Hill’s child abuse case has left his teammates silent.
Except for one.
“I think it’s bad, man,” Tyrann Mathieu told SB Nation on Tuesday night, becoming the first Chief to publicly share his thoughts on the matter. “Obviously, it’s very disappointing. Obviously, I came to the Chiefs with hopes that I could watch him play football and watch him run back punts and catch long bombs and outrun everybody.”
Mathieu may not get that chance, with Hill’s future unclear as Overland Park (Kan.) police investigate the three-time Pro Bowler’s alleged involvement in a broken arm and other injuries suffered by his 3-year-old son.
Initially, prosecutors acknowledged a crime had been committed, but didn’t file charges against either Hill or his fiancée, Crystal Espinal, because they could not determine how the child had been hurt.
Just two days later, KCTV released disturbing audio in which Espinal could be heard telling Hill that their son said “Daddy did it” in reference to the injuries. She also accused Hill of punching and using a belt on the toddler, to which he later responded, “You need to be terrified of me, too, dumb (b–ch).”
“It’s a very unfortunate situation. I haven’t been his teammate much, just basically two or three weeks. So it’s not really fair for me to comment on his character. I don’t think I really know him. But like I said just with everything that’s out right now and obviously the audio, it’s very disappointing, not only from a teammate standpoint but I’m a father as well. It’s very disappointing.”
The Chiefs, who said in a recent statement they were “deeply disturbed” by the audio, suspended Hill from offseason team activities following the revelation. The franchise seems ready to move on, having drafted Georgia wide receiver Mecole Hardman.
Meanwhile, the NFL is considering putting Hill, 25, on the commissioner’s exempt list. He would become the second Chief in the last calendar year to land on it since a video showing now-Cleveland Brown Kareem Hunt pushing and kicking a woman went viral.