No NFL receiver has ever recorded 2,000 receiving yards over the course of the regular season. The closest to reach that mark was Calvin Johnson’s 1,964 yards in 2012.

Which is probably why many of us just shrugged and glossed over Tyreek Hill’s offseason comments when he said he’d be the first player to hit that elusive threshold in 2023.

Heh, funny thing though. Hill is on pace to do just that heading into Week 9.

The Dolphins’ star wideout has tallied 1,014 yards at the midway point of the season — nearly 100 yards more than second-place A.J. Brown and more than 200 yards ahead of everyone else. Miami’s offense is designed to break defenses with chunk plays and Hill’s speed makes him a big play threat every time he touches the ball.

And you would think that would jump-start the campaign for Hill to become the first wide receiver to win NFL MVP. Except not even Hill believes that should be the case no matter how many yards he ends up with.

Instead, he pointed to his quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, as the person who deserves the praise.

Tyreek Hill — on pace for a 2,000-yard receiving season — is asked if he thinks he can win the league's MVP award this year.

"No," he said. "Because we have a player on our team who's better than me and means more to this team."

High praise for Tua.

— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) November 2, 2023

Maybe Hill is just being a good, realistic teammate. But he’s also not wrong. Tagovailoa is putting together a monster season across the board. His 2,416 yards passing leads the NFL. So do his 18 passing touchdowns.

Yet Tagovailoa (+350) is currently tied with Jalen Hurts behind Patrick Mahomes when it comes to MVP odds. Hill is all the way back at +4000 —just slightly ahead of Justin Herbert (+5000).

There’s still a lot of season left to play and Hill can certainly do more to build up a narrative that he should win. But it doesn’t seem like he’s interested in that. Not when his quarterback is lighting up defenses across the league.

In the meantime, Hill is getting close to rewarding bettors who took his offseason comments seriously. The veteran was +900 to lead the league in receiving yards and +200 to top 1,500 yard before the year began.

Apparently that’s light work for one of the most dynamic players in the league.