AVENTURA, Fla. -- Kansas City Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said Tyreek Hill's behavior during the season validated the team's decision to sign the Pro Bowl wide receiver to a contract extension shortly before Week 1.
"His first year with us, there were some question marks coming into the league,'' Hunt said Tuesday as the Chiefs prepared for Super Bowl LIV against the San Francisco 49ers. "We never had any issues with him. He always was where he was supposed to be, doing what he was supposed to be doing, accountable to the team, listening to his coaches, [being] a good teammate.
"I think we've seen that grow the last three or four years. Certainly I sense a heightened level of maturity from him this year, which is probably a byproduct of the challenges he went through earlier this year."
Hill joined the Chiefs as a fifth-round draft pick in 2016, eight months after he pleaded guilty in Oklahoma to punching and choking his pregnant girlfriend while he was in college. In April 2019, an audiotape surfaced of Hill and his then-fiancée discussing how their son received injuries and whether they might have been caused by Hill.
The Johnson County (Kansas) District Attorney's Office investigated Hill but declined to press charges.
During training camp, Hunt said Hill had things to prove to the Chiefs before he received the contract extension. The Chiefs and Hill then agreed to a three-year, $54 million extension shortly before the season.
"Part of it was our experience with him over the four years he had been with us," Hunt said Tuesday, in explaining the extension and why they wanted to wait during training camp. "We knew him as an individual. We clearly wanted as much information as possible from the legal proceedings that were going on. We wanted to make sure he was in a good place emotionally and that there weren't going to be any more surprises down the road."
Hunt said being a father has been good for Hill.
"We've seen Tyreek with his son here over the last couple of years," Hunt said. "I think to a person, people in the organization would tell you that he's an outstanding father."