And...who else has this happened to?

The reality is that it is not a guarantee that he will return to play, and if he does, it will likely be at a lower level of productivity and outcomes. When reviewing the literature, a 2018 article had the overall mean time to get back to play at 15.3 months if there was both ACL and lateral involvement, which looks to at least be the case in his situation. I would expect him to make an initial return towards the middle/end of the 2026-2027 season. Keep in mind that the overall return to play from a multilligament knee injury from our data is approximately 61%, and is consistent with the orthopaedic literature, however, that number goes down to around 52-55% if they had lateral sided involvement as well as a PCL and LCL injury. In addition, we saw a pretty substantial decrease in performance following return after a multiligament knee injury/knee dislocation - at about 30-48% decrease in overall performance.

Some notable athletes that have sustained knee dislocations in the NFL:

Teddy Bridgewater (2016):

non-contact dislocation with multi-ligament injury; he didn’t have any reported vascular or nerve damage. He basically returned to NFL game action roughly 15 months later, and played at a high level in the NFL.

Zach Miller (2017):

had a knee dislocation with a reported popliteal artery injury requiring emergency vascular surgery; unfortunately his career ended after this injury and surgery.

Dustin Keller (2013 preseason):

knee dislocation with extensive ligament damage; ultimately career-ending despite reconstruction attempts.

Napoleon McCallum (1994):

this was a pretty significant catastrophic dislocation with arterial and extensive soft-tissue injury; this was also career ending.

Marcus Lattimore (South Carolina, 2012):

He sustained a knee dislocation after a direct helmet to the leg blow, and had a multiligament injury. He entered the 2013 draft with first-round pre-injury talent, slipped to the fourth round, and, despite a valiant effort with rehabilitation and recovery —he didn’t play in the NFL.

Nick Chubb (Georgia, 2015; Cleveland 2023):

in college, he dislocated his left knee, tearing the MCL, LCL, and PCL with reported cartilage damage—but fortunately, no artery or nerve involvement. He had reconstruction, returned in 2016 season to rush for over 1,000 yards, and was drafted by Cleveland. In his sixth NFL season he sustained a similarly devastating injury to the same knee—this time with ACL/MCL/medial meniscus/medial capsule damage—requiring two surgeries. He remained fortunate to avoid nerve and arterial injury, returned to limited action in 2024, and signed with Houston in 2025. Chubb illustrates that even after major multi-ligament trauma, high performance can be regained, especially in the most elite of athletes. This is a true story of courage and perseverance.

For Tyreek Hill, I think we can see the same story of courage and perseverance - it is certainly early, but he is the type of elite athlete that can return to the NFL at a high level.