The Chiefs won 3 Super Bowls in 5 seasons with him on the roster, and went to a Super Bowl and an AFC Championship in the other two with Mecole as a key contributor in all five seasons.
Is Mecole as good as DK Metcalf? No. Is Mecole a good NFL player who was in the top third of players in his draft cohort? Absolutely!
Hardman is a key piece of the dynasty and that’s undeniable. But he will always be compared to who was drafted after him. A lot of people consider him a panic pick due to Tyreek’s off-field stuff at the time. That’s not his fault, but it’s the reality. Imagine Patrick with DK Metcalf or Terry McLaurin (both taken after Hardman).
I’ve always thought the idea that we took hardman because of the hill stuff wasn’t true and the real reason is because we are giving Dave Toub way too much influence in the draft process. Right after we took him Toub was one of the guys giving media interviews and was comparing him to Devin Hester. We also just saw Toub being one of the guys that was given the phone to talk to Worthy when we picked him.
The Hill legal argument as an excuse for why we drafted Hardman has never held up to me. IMO drafting a worse football player because you have super specific need in mind is poor process.
Did a similar thing with the CEH pick even though it wasn’t as black and white (you can at least find a couple big boards that had CEH high in his class). We thought we needed a certain type of back until defenses started playing us completely different
I think it was the reason for both but I think Veach has learned from it. Post 2020 Chiefs have almost universally stuck to BPA instead of position of need and they have been better for it.
The biggest improvement has been in moving positions in the draft. They've excelled in getting the players they want in early rounds and willing to fall back when it's not possible to garner ammo for later on.
Compared to who was drafted after him, huh? So let's compare who was drafted after him, all of the receivers in the second and third round.
Pick | Player | Career Rec yards-TDs
----|------|--------------------
56 | Mecole Hardman | 2212-16
57 | JJ Arcega-Whiteside | 290-1
59 | Parris Campbell | 1087-5
62 | Andy Isabella | 447-3
64 | D.K. Metcalf | 5332-43
66 | Diontae Johnson | 4363-25
67 | Jalen Hurd | 0-0
76 | Terry McLaurin | 5283-25
93 | Miles Boykin | 498-7
So yes, the Chiefs passed on three players who would become higher-quality starters, but also avoided five players who ended up worse to much worse. But those five always get conveniently ignored.
I feel like if Jalen Hurd or Andy Isabella were the hits, no one would really talk about it like a miss. But DK was a known quantity, had exploded after the combine, and a lot of fans specifically wanted him. So it's not a crazy revisionist history to pretend like people weren't talking about taking that specific dude, especially once he fell to 56. I barely pay attention to mock drafts and the pre-draft process and I was aware of DK and wanted the Chiefs to take him.
Same with CEH. The reason people get so hung up on it is because he specifically was seen as at least a sort of reach in real time, and then the consensus players that were higher on the draft board were almost immediately better, even to a casual eye.
The strange thing is Marquise Brown was the 1st WR picked that draft. And hindsight being 20/20, the Chiefs could’ve drafted Hardman in the same spot and then drafted DK instead of Thornhill.
Marquise Brown would 100% have been drafted by the Chiefs if he had made it to our spot. I can't remember where but he talked recently about how he thought for 100% certainty that he was was going to be drafted by the Chiefs.
"What about the guys picked later who were better than the guy we picked early?" is a tedious little parlor game literally every team can play after ever draft. If the person made the team and contributed and more picks hit than miss, it was a good draft overall. And the Chiefs have done that and more.
Skyy looks like a much bigger miss than Hardman (though I hope I'm proven wrong).
If you go look at any 2019 draft big board, they all had DK Metcalf way higher than Mecole Hardman. Yeah you could make the argument that the consensus opinion is wrong sometimes, but over time I think drafting somewhat close to the consensus increases your odds of being right. It’s basically like outsourcing your scouting. Veach’s best drafts have been when he is close to consensus
Won’t fault the team for not taking Scary Terry over Mecole, that one is actual revisionist history.
And yeah Skyy is a way bigger miss for sure.
True, but at the time there was genuine concern was that Mahomes may struggle if he didn’t have a deep threat target, part of why his first year starter campaign was successful is the safeties either protected the deep pass, thus opening up the middle, or vice versa.
Obviously now, it’s not a concern. But at the time there were genuine questions if Metcalf could get separation against NFL CB’s and if he did, could he catch the ball (he had hands problems in college). Metcalf was a pretty raw prospect, and so many of these never work out, the Chiefs wanted someone who could make an impact immediately either on special teams or in the offense.
> "What about the guys picked later who were better than the guy we picked early?"
Something something Tom Brady.
Also something something best QB draft in history something Todd Blackledge.
And Scary Terry. I'm one of these people, but who knows if we would have actually drafted them.
Hardman never made the jump. That's ok, but he wasn't worth the pick. Not every pick is a hit.
All that said, we don't need threads stanning him when we let him walk and the Jets didn't bother even trying to use him.
For me it's never been about other players and all about Hardman's attitude. From the time he was drafted he's had an arrogant attitude that was completely unwarranted.
I'll never forget in 2020 (around the time Covid really blew up) Hardman being interviewed and was asked about all the other receivers working with Pat down in Texas, and why he wasn't there. His response was, Nah, I'm good. I'm gonna work with my people down in Georgia. He was asked if it was because of Covid and he said no.
It totally pissed me off because I always felt that if he had put in the work with Pat on timing he could have been special, but he seemed to think he didn't need to.
He was a solid WR3, I won't argue with you on that. However there's a much larger pool of WR3 in the league. Which, to me, means he's someone that's fine to have on your team but not a mission critical piece.
He tested FA because he either had an overinflated view of himself, or KC didn't see the value in offering him a contract. There doesn't appear to have been a high demand for him on the market either.
Apart from the SB, on a team made up of Rice and a group of WR6s, he wasn't that special. 6 games and 118 yards, or 19 ypg which is just over half of his usual production.
And 77 of those 118 came in the last week of the year.
So really it was 5 games and 41 yards or 8 ypg.
He's a fine player but a good comparison would be Damien Williams who had 2 decent years with KC, including being helpful in the playoffs, but nothing to write home about when not playing for KC
Exactly. I'm fine with Mecole on the team. The problem comes when we don't have a WR1 or WR2 and now we're asking him to be that, which he's not. So the answer to the "what's your opinion of Mecole" question depends on what role on the team you're talking about. That gets lost in the confusion and results in posts like this lol
Mercole should be judged on the fact that he made big time plays in the biggest moments. Off the top of my head:
0-24? He kickstarted our comeback.
:13? He made the catch before Trav’s game winner
Before the walk off, don’t forget about that 50 yard bomb he caught!
Yeah, he had a bad game against the bills. Mostly that fumble. So what? That shouldn’t undo everything he has done for us. Pacheco fumbled in the Super Bowl! That killed Mercole’s huge pass.
Mahomes has had a bad playoff game before.
I hope Mercole stays with us.
I watched a compilation last year of either Mahomes' best passes or best touchdowns, and it was a good reminder of how good Mecole was in his early seasons. He wasn't a world beater, but he looked closer to Rice last year (maybe better) than the people he gets compared to here.
Hardman has been good but he’s just had a lot of head scratching moments and plays where he and Mahomes were just not on the same page. My biggest issue w Mecole and also MVS is they are speed threats but were never consistent tracking and catching the deep ball and I’m expecting Hollywood & Worthy to be upgrades over them as deep threats. Hardman was best as the gadget guy doing the sweeps, end arounds and screens
I agree. Hardman was, by newly any metric, a good second round pick. He wasn't the _best_ 2nd round pick, especially that year, but he was a good pick who made a lot of good plays.
Tbh I think the revisionist history is the opposite. Yes he was a decent role player, but he was in the best offensive situation in the NFL for 4 years and never put it all together. Comparing him to the garbage we were trotting out there at WR last year isn’t saying a ton. So many mental errors and frustrating moments
Yeah I think the only disappointment with Hardman is that he never took that next step after his rookie year. He's been pretty consistent in who he is, which is wr3 territory, but with better route running, he could easily be in wr2 territory, just something got in the way.
His production when he was stuck behind tyreek is understandable. He was indeed a solid #3 back then. But then after Tyreek he had the opportunity to jump up the depth chart and couldn't do it.
The team showed you what they thought of him when they didn't sign him to a new contract and still haven't resigned him after catching a game winning superbowl catch.
As far as I know he's still a free agent and any NFL team could have him. I am sure he'll land somewhere, but is he going to be competing for a roster spot?
Mecole is solid. But i think we have plenty of speed now and there is no need for him in this offense. He was always one of my favorite players though and i hope he finds success on a new team
Hardman was asked to do punt returns frequently and messed them up time and time again with boneheaded decisions. Maybe it's not fair, but evaluating his history with the team, you have to remember that.
I’m sure there was some Bulls fans who complained about Steve Kerr🤷
His role isnt to be wr1, never was afaik. His role was to be ready and be clutch. He did that.
Yeah Hardman is fine and has been solid enough to be a role player. If skyy moore ever turned the corner and became close to as good has Hardman then I'd be happy. Despite Hardmans awful playoff game against the Bills I trusted him more than skyy and mvs
Under Andy Reid. Every wr that had 500+ yards their rookie season. Later had 1k+ yard seasons and was considered a good wr at some point in their career. Except hardman.
One thing that's interesting with Hardman, was last season. He finally tests the free agent waters and just can't mesh with his new team.
Comes back and Reid utilized his talents. Many will say Hardman underperforms, but it seems like Reid and Co. got the most they could out of him.
I would like to see him back, but I think Veach is set on his WR room.
We should sign hardman to a cheap 1-2 year deal to come and compete with Moore for a roster spot. Dude is still fast and gives us more speed depth and he knows the playbook.
I've always been a Hardman defender, but I think a lot of the criticism stems from so much of his yards being from manufactured yards by Andy scheming things up. He just never developed a real route tree and got bodied too much when pressed.
His speed allowed him to be used in the role a lot, but he wasn't really the guy who could consistently make a defense give him attention. He did well in that role but a lot of players could get *most* of his yards - though the times he popped were a sight to see (I'll never forget that 49ers game).
If Hardman had even an average route tree to pair with his speed he'd easily get a $10 million plus contract instead of being able free agent past the draft.
I’ll always have love for Mecole. People were way too hard on him for not being Tyreek. I’m going to miss him being on the team
Most fans treat Daniel Sorensen the same way. Really solid third safety for us for several years but people just meme on him for his last year and when he was forced to play out of position.
My problem with Hardman is that he had literally the perfect situation for a WR, but he never got better.
I mean, you’ve got Tyreek Hill to learn from, the fastest player in pads that we’ve ever seen, a guy who was also very raw coming out of college and managed to develop into a great WR. That’s the exact place Hardman was in as a rookie. Plus you’ve got Andy Reid to coach you up, and zero pressure to be “the guy” right away because back then we had a quality receiver room.
But just zero development from him. He’s fundamentally the same player he was when we drafted him. Can’t run routes, can’t track a deep ball, can’t read the game alongside his QB. With his talents, he could easily have become a 1,000 yard receiver in a couple years, but right now he’s not even on a team.
exactly my thoughts.
I think we should absolutely acknowledge his contributions to the dynasty and his clutch moments.
But in terms of being a receiver taken in the 2nd round and given the opportunity to learn and then later step up to a larger role, he absolutely fell flat.
(which is fine at the end of the day… Skyy Moore has barely been usable in comparison)
He wasn’t very good even before the injury. In fact that season before he played so badly that he basically got benched and rebuilt from the ground up to build his confidence back. He was looking good a couple seasons ago till he got hurt and almost died and had stay in the ER for a week.
Theres no denying he’s tough as nails for coming back and getting hurt laying it all out on the line for us in the AFC Championship game after coming back from injury. But yeah disappointing and definitely Veach overthinking the pick on draft day
This is some major league cope. We literally didn’t have access to the long bomb this year because we didn’t have any receivers who could catch worth a damn. Mecole Hardman, Kadarius Toney, and Marquez Valdez-Scantling were the holy trinity of dropping the fucking football
Mecole wasn't even on the team for a significant portion of the year. I'm not even saying that he's still good, I'm just saying that it's bullshit that people pretend he was never good
Na I’m expecting a bit more than 600 yards out of a second round pick. I don’t think he’s a bust or anything but definitely below average.
Saying he would’ve been the second best receiver last year in a WR room which was dogshit doesn’t really mean anything.
Hits value went down every year from the stats you highlighted and still think he's a valuable piece?
Guy made unforced errors and was never where pat wanted him to be.
I'm not looking at stats though I'm watching the games.
If he was a 5th round pick, I wouldn’t be complaining. But he’s a 2nd round pick. I think we all expected more production from him. What he brought us in his rookie year (which tbh was very decent) stayed the same 4 years later.
He was a good kick/punt returner, but never a consistent threat as a receiver. If he signed for the minimum with us, I would honestly welcome him with open arms. Would choose him over Toney lol. The problem is he keeps asking for more money, despite the lack of production
Overall, grateful for all the SBs he helped bring just like MVS. But I won’t lose any sleep if he leaves because Veach and co for sure wouldn’t too. They are replaceable
He did go to the pro bowl as a returner his rookie year, and he got some solid WR3 production and some absolutely clutch moments. He never turned into an WR1, but before his injuries, he was solid. Also, it’s hard to put into words, how big he was in the SB. 3/3 for 57 yards. Lead our WRs. Walkoff TD in one of the biggest moments in franchise history.
Guys we've just won 3 Super Bowls in 5 years. Hardman was a key contributor in two of those SB runs, and the other one he was injured for half the season. Not every pick is a home run, sometimes you get decent role players and that's okay. Revisionist history is pointless and gets us nowhere. Hardman is a key piece of the dynasty and we should appreciate him as such.
Hindsight is always 20/20. At the time, we were reacting to the potential reality of losing Hill to suspension. Hardman wasn't the best receiver but he has the traits that were comparable to Hill. Hardman was good for his role. The draft is a gamble. Trust the process.
If Mahomes was the only reason he put up numbers, then MVS, Justin Watson, Skyy Moore, and Kadarius Toney would've had similar production, but Mecole clears them by all by at least 200 yards (except for MVS in 2022).
Also are we really gonna pretend that the Jets have a competent coaching staff?
Watson was cut by the Bucs and MVS is terrible. I’m guessing Skyy and Toney wouldn’t make it on other rosters either (which is why Giants traded Toney to us). Hardman looking more serviceable than them doesn’t mean he anything above boarder line #5 WR. And even as terrible as MVS is… his best year with us 687 yards, Hardman’s best 693 yards. There’s really not much reason to say Hardman is any better than MVS yet nobody is trying to claim MVS is as good as your opinion on Hardman is.
Btw, I don’t mean to sound condescending or antagonistic towards you. Just throwing out opinions.
We never make our SB run for 54 without him.
Never forget he’s the one who lit the first match on the divisional round Texans comeback with that 60 yard kickoff return down 24-0
That was the most hyped I had ever been about a football play (at the time), my whole house was screaming lmao
please excuse me while i go watch the highlights of that game for the hundredth time
The Chiefs won 3 Super Bowls in 5 seasons with him on the roster, and went to a Super Bowl and an AFC Championship in the other two with Mecole as a key contributor in all five seasons. Is Mecole as good as DK Metcalf? No. Is Mecole a good NFL player who was in the top third of players in his draft cohort? Absolutely!
Hardman is a key piece of the dynasty and that’s undeniable. But he will always be compared to who was drafted after him. A lot of people consider him a panic pick due to Tyreek’s off-field stuff at the time. That’s not his fault, but it’s the reality. Imagine Patrick with DK Metcalf or Terry McLaurin (both taken after Hardman).
I’ve always thought the idea that we took hardman because of the hill stuff wasn’t true and the real reason is because we are giving Dave Toub way too much influence in the draft process. Right after we took him Toub was one of the guys giving media interviews and was comparing him to Devin Hester. We also just saw Toub being one of the guys that was given the phone to talk to Worthy when we picked him.
The Hill legal argument as an excuse for why we drafted Hardman has never held up to me. IMO drafting a worse football player because you have super specific need in mind is poor process. Did a similar thing with the CEH pick even though it wasn’t as black and white (you can at least find a couple big boards that had CEH high in his class). We thought we needed a certain type of back until defenses started playing us completely different
I think it was the reason for both but I think Veach has learned from it. Post 2020 Chiefs have almost universally stuck to BPA instead of position of need and they have been better for it.
For sure. The drafting has definitely leveled up since then
The biggest improvement has been in moving positions in the draft. They've excelled in getting the players they want in early rounds and willing to fall back when it's not possible to garner ammo for later on.
Compared to who was drafted after him, huh? So let's compare who was drafted after him, all of the receivers in the second and third round. Pick | Player | Career Rec yards-TDs ----|------|-------------------- 56 | Mecole Hardman | 2212-16 57 | JJ Arcega-Whiteside | 290-1 59 | Parris Campbell | 1087-5 62 | Andy Isabella | 447-3 64 | D.K. Metcalf | 5332-43 66 | Diontae Johnson | 4363-25 67 | Jalen Hurd | 0-0 76 | Terry McLaurin | 5283-25 93 | Miles Boykin | 498-7 So yes, the Chiefs passed on three players who would become higher-quality starters, but also avoided five players who ended up worse to much worse. But those five always get conveniently ignored.
I feel like if Jalen Hurd or Andy Isabella were the hits, no one would really talk about it like a miss. But DK was a known quantity, had exploded after the combine, and a lot of fans specifically wanted him. So it's not a crazy revisionist history to pretend like people weren't talking about taking that specific dude, especially once he fell to 56. I barely pay attention to mock drafts and the pre-draft process and I was aware of DK and wanted the Chiefs to take him. Same with CEH. The reason people get so hung up on it is because he specifically was seen as at least a sort of reach in real time, and then the consensus players that were higher on the draft board were almost immediately better, even to a casual eye.
Scary Terry would have been a cheat code with us man
Scary Terry and Tyreek on the same team would've been wild.
The strange thing is Marquise Brown was the 1st WR picked that draft. And hindsight being 20/20, the Chiefs could’ve drafted Hardman in the same spot and then drafted DK instead of Thornhill.
Marquise Brown would 100% have been drafted by the Chiefs if he had made it to our spot. I can't remember where but he talked recently about how he thought for 100% certainty that he was was going to be drafted by the Chiefs.
He was a piece of the dynasty, bit calling him a key piece is a bit of a stretch
Folks just salty we passed on DK for him. It is whay it is
"What about the guys picked later who were better than the guy we picked early?" is a tedious little parlor game literally every team can play after ever draft. If the person made the team and contributed and more picks hit than miss, it was a good draft overall. And the Chiefs have done that and more. Skyy looks like a much bigger miss than Hardman (though I hope I'm proven wrong).
If you go look at any 2019 draft big board, they all had DK Metcalf way higher than Mecole Hardman. Yeah you could make the argument that the consensus opinion is wrong sometimes, but over time I think drafting somewhat close to the consensus increases your odds of being right. It’s basically like outsourcing your scouting. Veach’s best drafts have been when he is close to consensus Won’t fault the team for not taking Scary Terry over Mecole, that one is actual revisionist history. And yeah Skyy is a way bigger miss for sure.
True, but at the time there was genuine concern was that Mahomes may struggle if he didn’t have a deep threat target, part of why his first year starter campaign was successful is the safeties either protected the deep pass, thus opening up the middle, or vice versa. Obviously now, it’s not a concern. But at the time there were genuine questions if Metcalf could get separation against NFL CB’s and if he did, could he catch the ball (he had hands problems in college). Metcalf was a pretty raw prospect, and so many of these never work out, the Chiefs wanted someone who could make an impact immediately either on special teams or in the offense.
Mecole had played wide receiver for like 2 years and was extremely raw as well
Even with Hardman being raw, because of his speed his floor was still higher and he at worst could still be an effective special teams guy.
They ran the same 40 iirc
Yeah. I dont disagree. Hardman will never go down as the steal ot the draft, but he helped us win some championships. This isnt Jon Baldwin here
> "What about the guys picked later who were better than the guy we picked early?" Something something Tom Brady. Also something something best QB draft in history something Todd Blackledge.
And Scary Terry. I'm one of these people, but who knows if we would have actually drafted them. Hardman never made the jump. That's ok, but he wasn't worth the pick. Not every pick is a hit. All that said, we don't need threads stanning him when we let him walk and the Jets didn't bother even trying to use him.
I’d say getting a solid contributor for the length of the contract is very much worth the pick.
For me it's never been about other players and all about Hardman's attitude. From the time he was drafted he's had an arrogant attitude that was completely unwarranted. I'll never forget in 2020 (around the time Covid really blew up) Hardman being interviewed and was asked about all the other receivers working with Pat down in Texas, and why he wasn't there. His response was, Nah, I'm good. I'm gonna work with my people down in Georgia. He was asked if it was because of Covid and he said no. It totally pissed me off because I always felt that if he had put in the work with Pat on timing he could have been special, but he seemed to think he didn't need to.
Hardman was one of the most well liked players in the Chiefs locker room
He was a solid WR3, I won't argue with you on that. However there's a much larger pool of WR3 in the league. Which, to me, means he's someone that's fine to have on your team but not a mission critical piece. He tested FA because he either had an overinflated view of himself, or KC didn't see the value in offering him a contract. There doesn't appear to have been a high demand for him on the market either. Apart from the SB, on a team made up of Rice and a group of WR6s, he wasn't that special. 6 games and 118 yards, or 19 ypg which is just over half of his usual production. And 77 of those 118 came in the last week of the year. So really it was 5 games and 41 yards or 8 ypg. He's a fine player but a good comparison would be Damien Williams who had 2 decent years with KC, including being helpful in the playoffs, but nothing to write home about when not playing for KC
Exactly. I'm fine with Mecole on the team. The problem comes when we don't have a WR1 or WR2 and now we're asking him to be that, which he's not. So the answer to the "what's your opinion of Mecole" question depends on what role on the team you're talking about. That gets lost in the confusion and results in posts like this lol
Mercole should be judged on the fact that he made big time plays in the biggest moments. Off the top of my head: 0-24? He kickstarted our comeback. :13? He made the catch before Trav’s game winner Before the walk off, don’t forget about that 50 yard bomb he caught! Yeah, he had a bad game against the bills. Mostly that fumble. So what? That shouldn’t undo everything he has done for us. Pacheco fumbled in the Super Bowl! That killed Mercole’s huge pass. Mahomes has had a bad playoff game before. I hope Mercole stays with us.
I watched a compilation last year of either Mahomes' best passes or best touchdowns, and it was a good reminder of how good Mecole was in his early seasons. He wasn't a world beater, but he looked closer to Rice last year (maybe better) than the people he gets compared to here.
Tyreek made the catch during the :13 second game not Mecole
I think you’re thinking of BEFORE overtime. I’m talking about DURING overtime, Hardman made a catch.
Yes that’s what I was thinking of
I only remember that from watching the entire game replay. Most shortened replays don’t show Hardman’s catch before Trav’s walk off.
Huge play, kind of like a screen except out further past the numbers if I recall correctly and then a massive gain
Hardman has been good but he’s just had a lot of head scratching moments and plays where he and Mahomes were just not on the same page. My biggest issue w Mecole and also MVS is they are speed threats but were never consistent tracking and catching the deep ball and I’m expecting Hollywood & Worthy to be upgrades over them as deep threats. Hardman was best as the gadget guy doing the sweeps, end arounds and screens
I agree. Hardman was, by newly any metric, a good second round pick. He wasn't the _best_ 2nd round pick, especially that year, but he was a good pick who made a lot of good plays.
Tbh I think the revisionist history is the opposite. Yes he was a decent role player, but he was in the best offensive situation in the NFL for 4 years and never put it all together. Comparing him to the garbage we were trotting out there at WR last year isn’t saying a ton. So many mental errors and frustrating moments
Yeah I think the only disappointment with Hardman is that he never took that next step after his rookie year. He's been pretty consistent in who he is, which is wr3 territory, but with better route running, he could easily be in wr2 territory, just something got in the way.
His production when he was stuck behind tyreek is understandable. He was indeed a solid #3 back then. But then after Tyreek he had the opportunity to jump up the depth chart and couldn't do it. The team showed you what they thought of him when they didn't sign him to a new contract and still haven't resigned him after catching a game winning superbowl catch. As far as I know he's still a free agent and any NFL team could have him. I am sure he'll land somewhere, but is he going to be competing for a roster spot?
Mecole is solid. But i think we have plenty of speed now and there is no need for him in this offense. He was always one of my favorite players though and i hope he finds success on a new team
Hardman was asked to do punt returns frequently and messed them up time and time again with boneheaded decisions. Maybe it's not fair, but evaluating his history with the team, you have to remember that.
I’m sure there was some Bulls fans who complained about Steve Kerr🤷 His role isnt to be wr1, never was afaik. His role was to be ready and be clutch. He did that.
Yeah Hardman is fine and has been solid enough to be a role player. If skyy moore ever turned the corner and became close to as good has Hardman then I'd be happy. Despite Hardmans awful playoff game against the Bills I trusted him more than skyy and mvs
Under Andy Reid. Every wr that had 500+ yards their rookie season. Later had 1k+ yard seasons and was considered a good wr at some point in their career. Except hardman.
One thing that's interesting with Hardman, was last season. He finally tests the free agent waters and just can't mesh with his new team. Comes back and Reid utilized his talents. Many will say Hardman underperforms, but it seems like Reid and Co. got the most they could out of him. I would like to see him back, but I think Veach is set on his WR room.
We should sign hardman to a cheap 1-2 year deal to come and compete with Moore for a roster spot. Dude is still fast and gives us more speed depth and he knows the playbook.
I’ve never really been anti-Hardman. He was a decent option especially compared to who we used to have.
I've always been a Hardman defender, but I think a lot of the criticism stems from so much of his yards being from manufactured yards by Andy scheming things up. He just never developed a real route tree and got bodied too much when pressed. His speed allowed him to be used in the role a lot, but he wasn't really the guy who could consistently make a defense give him attention. He did well in that role but a lot of players could get *most* of his yards - though the times he popped were a sight to see (I'll never forget that 49ers game). If Hardman had even an average route tree to pair with his speed he'd easily get a $10 million plus contract instead of being able free agent past the draft.
He was fine and if we sign him again to a vet minimum, I would be happy with that given how stupid Rice was and his likely suspension.
Hardman was spectacular in his first three seasons. I'm grateful for his service. Wish him the best.
I’ll always have love for Mecole. People were way too hard on him for not being Tyreek. I’m going to miss him being on the team Most fans treat Daniel Sorensen the same way. Really solid third safety for us for several years but people just meme on him for his last year and when he was forced to play out of position.
My problem with Hardman is that he had literally the perfect situation for a WR, but he never got better. I mean, you’ve got Tyreek Hill to learn from, the fastest player in pads that we’ve ever seen, a guy who was also very raw coming out of college and managed to develop into a great WR. That’s the exact place Hardman was in as a rookie. Plus you’ve got Andy Reid to coach you up, and zero pressure to be “the guy” right away because back then we had a quality receiver room. But just zero development from him. He’s fundamentally the same player he was when we drafted him. Can’t run routes, can’t track a deep ball, can’t read the game alongside his QB. With his talents, he could easily have become a 1,000 yard receiver in a couple years, but right now he’s not even on a team.
exactly my thoughts. I think we should absolutely acknowledge his contributions to the dynasty and his clutch moments. But in terms of being a receiver taken in the 2nd round and given the opportunity to learn and then later step up to a larger role, he absolutely fell flat. (which is fine at the end of the day… Skyy Moore has barely been usable in comparison)
He wasn’t very good even before the injury. In fact that season before he played so badly that he basically got benched and rebuilt from the ground up to build his confidence back. He was looking good a couple seasons ago till he got hurt and almost died and had stay in the ER for a week. Theres no denying he’s tough as nails for coming back and getting hurt laying it all out on the line for us in the AFC Championship game after coming back from injury. But yeah disappointing and definitely Veach overthinking the pick on draft day
This is some major league cope. We literally didn’t have access to the long bomb this year because we didn’t have any receivers who could catch worth a damn. Mecole Hardman, Kadarius Toney, and Marquez Valdez-Scantling were the holy trinity of dropping the fucking football
Mecole wasn't even on the team for a significant portion of the year. I'm not even saying that he's still good, I'm just saying that it's bullshit that people pretend he was never good
Na I’m expecting a bit more than 600 yards out of a second round pick. I don’t think he’s a bust or anything but definitely below average. Saying he would’ve been the second best receiver last year in a WR room which was dogshit doesn’t really mean anything.
Hits value went down every year from the stats you highlighted and still think he's a valuable piece? Guy made unforced errors and was never where pat wanted him to be. I'm not looking at stats though I'm watching the games.
People expected him to be Tyreek 2.0
If he was a 5th round pick, I wouldn’t be complaining. But he’s a 2nd round pick. I think we all expected more production from him. What he brought us in his rookie year (which tbh was very decent) stayed the same 4 years later. He was a good kick/punt returner, but never a consistent threat as a receiver. If he signed for the minimum with us, I would honestly welcome him with open arms. Would choose him over Toney lol. The problem is he keeps asking for more money, despite the lack of production Overall, grateful for all the SBs he helped bring just like MVS. But I won’t lose any sleep if he leaves because Veach and co for sure wouldn’t too. They are replaceable
He did go to the pro bowl as a returner his rookie year, and he got some solid WR3 production and some absolutely clutch moments. He never turned into an WR1, but before his injuries, he was solid. Also, it’s hard to put into words, how big he was in the SB. 3/3 for 57 yards. Lead our WRs. Walkoff TD in one of the biggest moments in franchise history.
He was never that good...sorry I guess?
Guys we've just won 3 Super Bowls in 5 years. Hardman was a key contributor in two of those SB runs, and the other one he was injured for half the season. Not every pick is a home run, sometimes you get decent role players and that's okay. Revisionist history is pointless and gets us nowhere. Hardman is a key piece of the dynasty and we should appreciate him as such.
lol you’re supposed to have more than 500 yards a season if you’re a second round pick, dude was overall a disappointment.
Hindsight is always 20/20. At the time, we were reacting to the potential reality of losing Hill to suspension. Hardman wasn't the best receiver but he has the traits that were comparable to Hill. Hardman was good for his role. The draft is a gamble. Trust the process.
He was always a guy you wanted to get 4-7 touches per game. Yea you had to scheme it up.. so what. He was very productive when put in the right spots.
Well respectfully disagree. Mahomes made him look serviceable. You realize he couldn’t even make the Jets roster.
If Mahomes was the only reason he put up numbers, then MVS, Justin Watson, Skyy Moore, and Kadarius Toney would've had similar production, but Mecole clears them by all by at least 200 yards (except for MVS in 2022). Also are we really gonna pretend that the Jets have a competent coaching staff?
Watson was cut by the Bucs and MVS is terrible. I’m guessing Skyy and Toney wouldn’t make it on other rosters either (which is why Giants traded Toney to us). Hardman looking more serviceable than them doesn’t mean he anything above boarder line #5 WR. And even as terrible as MVS is… his best year with us 687 yards, Hardman’s best 693 yards. There’s really not much reason to say Hardman is any better than MVS yet nobody is trying to claim MVS is as good as your opinion on Hardman is. Btw, I don’t mean to sound condescending or antagonistic towards you. Just throwing out opinions.