Touchdown-Scoring Hill Finds ‘Daily Motivation’ in Being Pick No. 256

The Green Bay Packers’ preseason game against the New York Jets ended at 6:14 p.m.

Twenty-six minutes later, rookie running back Kylin Hill tweeted a simple message: 256.

In the 2021 NFL Draft, there were 259 players selected. As you might have guessed, Hill was No. 256.

Put another way, NFL general managers deemed 255 players better than Hill, including 16 running backs.

“That’s my daily motivation,” Hill said afterward. “Seventh-round pick, that’s just my daily grind, my motivation. When I’m tired, that’s what I think about; just to prove a lot of people wrong in my life.”

With a second impressive touchdown in as many weeks, Hill is well on his way to not only making the Packers’ roster but showing he was undervalued – perhaps incredibly undervalued – by NFL decision-makers.

Midway through the first quarter of Saturday’s 23-14 loss to the Jets, Hill took an inside handoff, used his speed to get around the corner and won a race to the pylon for a 12-yard score. Right tackle Ben Braden delivered the key block.

“First, I have to give it to my O-line,” Hill said. “I had one guy to miss. Once I had that one guy miss, I saw the sideline and I saw the guy at the goal line. I was like, ‘This is my opportunity. I have to win this one-on-one battle.’ I just put my head down to push it in and that’s what I did.”

Combined with the 22-yard touchdown on a screen last week, Hill has scored two of Green Bay’s three touchdowns and has been so good that coach Matt LaFleur might have to find a way to get him on the field even with the potentially dynamic one-two punch of Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon leading the backfield.

“Kylin’s a really talented player,” LaFleur said. “You guys can see that. He’s got really good explosiveness. He can stick his foot in the ground and make the cuts. Young player that continues to develop and improve every day. It’s just going to be how fast can we get him to be really consistent. The game certainly isn’t too big for him, so he’s a young guy we’re really excited about.”

Hill carried seven times for 29 yards and caught two passes for 11 yards against New York. One of the receptions converted a third-and-5 and helped spark the team’s second touchdown drive of the game.

After that drive, Hill’s day was done. While this might be a gross oversimplification, here is the tale of the offensive tape. Hill played in three drives, with the Packers scoring 14 points and accumulating 10 first downs. Without Hill, the Packers managed zero points and five first downs in seven possessions.

As for his tumble to the bottom of the draft, it’s not like Hill was a small-school mystery or someone buried on a big-school depth chart. He played high-level football at Mississippi State while playing in the toughest conference in the nation. In 2019, Hill led the SEC in rushing yards per game. In 2020, he played in only three games – he opted out after being suspended. While he rushed for only 58 yards, he caught eight passes for 158 yards against LSU and 15 passes for 79 yards against Kentucky.

Clearly, the suspension and opt-out were why Hill almost slid out of the draft. Whatever the reason, Hill is fueled by the slight.

“That’s just my competitive nature,” he said. “Nobody likes people taken in front of them, but it is what it is. I feel like God blessed me to be here; just take advantage of what I got and what’s delivered. Whenever I get the opportunity, I’m going to do my best and try to my best to impress.”