National Football League

Is Dolphins' Tyreek Hill already a Hall of Famer?

Updated Nov. 7, 2022 9:06 p.m. ET

We've never seen a cheetah pull off a somersault.

Sunday afternoon, that changed when the human "Cheetah" Tyreek Hill broke out a jaw-dropping backflip to celebrate a go-ahead touchdown reception as part of his exemplary Week 9 outing.

There were plenty of reasons to jump for joy for Hill and Dolphins. First, they accomplished what they set out to, stopping Justin Fields and the Bears 35-32 for their sixth win of the season. Hill recorded seven catches for 143 yards (20.4 yards-per-reception) and a score.

Furthermore, his 1,104 yards receiving are the most ever for a player in the first nine games of a season.

But it doesn't stop there.

Hill's receiving yardage total through Week 9 has him slotted higher than eight teams in the category. Hill's grand performance Sunday was familiar to Fins fans, who have seen him rack up more than 100 yards receiving for the fifth time this season, already the most for a Dolphins' wideout in franchise history.

And if he keeps up this pace (he's on pace for 2,085 total yards), he'll smash Calvin Johnson's record for most receiving yards in a season (1,964), and become the first player to eclipse the 2,000-yard threshold.

In Skip Bayless' view, after Sunday, Hill is already an indisputable Hall of Famer.

"Somebody should be fitting him for the gold jacket," Bayless said Monday on "Undisputed." " … [He's] second to none. It is the most lethal acceleration I've ever seen. … I'm not sure I've seen anything quite like this."

"The backflip – humans aren't supposed to be able to do that. … Here's his most phenomenal achievement: He's actually turning Tua [Tagovailoa] into a very good quarterback. Tua is not a very good quarterback, and he's leading the league in QBR now in large part because of him. Even a couple of balls yesterday, they're woefully underthrown, and he's so wide open he just stops, catches it and goes."

Shannon Sharpe needs one more condition to be met before he can consider Hill a fellow Hall of Famer.

"When you look at his speed, there have been very few players on the offensive side of the football that can impact a game – regardless of position – like Tyreek Hill can," Sharpe said.

" … He's a threat every time he touches the ball. … 2,000 yards in a season? I don't care if it is 17 games. … Any DB that says they don't fear this man, they're lying, because they know in the blink of an eye he can run by you. He gets 2,000 yards, you have to start talking about this man getting a gold jacket. … To be the first guy to go over 2,000 yards in a season? He's special."