



Kansas City Chiefs star Tyreek Hill will not be disciplined or fined for the child-abuse investigation or his comments toward his then-fiancée on a secret recording that were made public.

Based on that decision, sources tell Yahoo Sports that the Chiefs — who suspended him from team activities the past three months — will allow him to join his teammates for the start of training camp on July 26 in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill is expected to re-join his team at training camp next week. (Getty) More

In a statement released Friday morning, the NFL said, “the NFL cannot conclude that Mr. Hill violated the Personal Conduct Policy. Accordingly, he may attend Kansas City’s training camp and participate in all club activities.”





Here is the NFL’s full statement: pic.twitter.com/rEvNP2SxMO — Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) July 19, 2019





The NFL’s judgment supports the notion that the evidence Hill and his attorneys provided league investigators during an eight-hour meeting on June 26 was significant, as sources told Yahoo Sports that Hill included text messages supporting the assertions he made in his own defense in a four-page letter he sent the NFL in early May regarding the child abuse case. Authorities were looking into the welfare of Hill’s 3-year-old son who suffered a broken arm.

The Chiefs have also viewed that evidence, sources told Yahoo Sports, and have been aware of much of it for months, which contributed to the team’s initial decision to not part ways with him when the child-abuse investigation began in early March.

Tyreek Hill thankful in his statement

Hill released a statement of his own on Twitter, thanking his fans and the Chiefs organization while promising he “will continue to strive to be the best father, the best friend, the best role model, and the best mentor that I can be.”





Love you guys !!!✌🏿 pic.twitter.com/QWKA7ia37i — Ty Hill (@cheetah) July 19, 2019

Why things looked bleak for Hill

When the Johnson County district attorney held a news conference in late April announcing his intention to not press charges against either Hill or his then-fiancée Crystal Espinal (despite the fact he said he believed a crime had been committed against the child), Hill and the Chiefs believed it was a significant step toward the matter being resolved. But the next day, a local news station broadcast parts of a secretly recorded 11-minute conversation between Hill and Espinal in an airport on their way back from Dubai. The station aired a portion that included Hill and Espinal arguing about who broke their child’s arm, as Espinal accused Hill of injuring the child and also punching the boy in the chest (which Hill denied).

"He's terrified of you," Espinal said on the tape, referring to their son.

"You need to be terrified of me too — dumb bitch," Hill said.

Given Hill’s previous history — he pleaded guilty to punching and kicking Espinal during a 2014 incident, a decision that allowed him to avoid jail time and keep his NFL prospects alive — that comment became a flash point, one that many believed would lead to significant punishment for Hill, both from the NFL and possibly the authorities since the district attorney could reopen the case whenever he likes.

And for a while, it seemed that’s what the authorities would do, as the same local news station that reported the audio also reported that the case has been reopened as national outrage regarding Hill continued to simmer. Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who a source told Yahoo Sports had just seen the report minutes before a previously scheduled news conference announcing the signing of Frank Clark, gave it more life when he repeated that statement during the news conference.

Release of full audio added context to Hill, fiancee talk

Around that same time, the Chiefs and Hill agreed that he should stay away from the team until the situation resolved itself – even though he still received pay, sources said – as the club did further investigation and research into the audio, which it had not heard to that point. A source close to the investigation tells Yahoo Sports that as the Chiefs did that research, they eventually came to believe in the strength of the evidence Hill would eventually present to the NFL two weeks ago.

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