Tyreek Hill‘s ex-wife is alleging the Dolphins wide receiver committed several acts of domestic violence against her, according to TMZ. Hill’s attorney has denied the claims, calling them part of a “shakedown.”
While Hill has established himself as one of this century’s best wide receivers and will almost definitely be headed to the Hall of Fame, domestic violence represents an ugly cloud over his career. An arrest while at Oklahoma State in 2014 is the most serious of the incidents, Hill was also part of a 2019 scandal that alleged domestic violence.
He has managed to avoid an NFL suspension, thanks in part to a rule at the time in which off-field incidents prior to a player’s time in the league could not impact the league to impose a ban, but another round of trouble is afoot for the fourth-year Dolphins receiver. Hill, 31, also avoided a suspension for an assault on a Miami-area marina worker in 2023.
Hill’s ex-wife, Keeta Vaccaro, has accused him of multiple acts of violence beginning in January 2024. Hill and Vaccaro were married in November 2023; they separated 17 months later.
In a new court filing as part of the divorce, Vaccaro accused Hill of shoving her to the floor in January 2024 at their guest house in Southwest Ranches, Fla. In a separate incident, Vaccaro accuses Hill of “violently attacked her, throwing her to the floor, twisting her intimate body parts, ripping her hair out and grabbing anything on her person he could get a hold of” in an Orlando hotel two weeks later, according to TMZ.
Vaccaro also alleges Hill shoved a marijuana cigarette in her face when the couple was preparing to leave for the 2024 Pro Bowl. In total, Vaccaro accuses Hill of eight separate acts of domestic violence. This includes incidents while she was pregnant.
Hill’s 2014 arrest involved a different woman, the mother of his oldest children, and involved accusations of punching and choking her while she was pregnant. (That arrest led to Hill being thrown off the Oklahoma State football and track teams; it later led some teams to remove the WR from their draft boards.) That woman, Crystal Espinal, accused Hill in 2019 of violence against one of their children. Hill was also heard in a recording threatening Espinal, his then-fiancé. That recording preceded Hill being barred from the Chiefs’ facility during the 2019 offseason. Due in part to a lack of cooperation from a Kansas district attorney’s office, Hill was not suspended by the NFL in connection with the 2019 incident. He signed a Chiefs extension (three years, $54MM) soon after the team welcomed him back, though that extension had protections for the team in the event more off-field trouble ensued.
With Hill staying out of trouble from then until March 2022, the Dolphins traded a five-pick package to the Chiefs and rewarded the standout receiver with a then-position-record four-year, $120MM extension. A year after not being charged for his marina assault, Hill secured a new $50MM guarantee package from the Dolphins. Months after that guarantee package, Hill checked himself out of Miami’s Week 18 game in New York and made an impromptu trade request — one he later walked back. That said, trade rumors have still followed the former fifth-round pick this year.
As with past Hill accusations, the case will need to play out. No charges have been filed against him in connection with Vaccaro’s allegations, though arrests or convictions are not required for suspensions under the NFL’s personal conduct policy. A league investigation could emerge as a result of Vaccaro’s claims. Two seasons remain on Hill’s Dolphins contract.
