KC Chiefs Glad to Have Mecole Hardman Back on Their Side for Week 7 Win
The Kansas City Chiefs' Week 7 win over the Los Angeles Chargers had a few overwhelming contributors at the top, but it was yet another full-team victory that had plenty of players step up.
Newcomer Mecole Hardman was one of those members of the supporting cast, although describing him as a newcomer isn't particularly accurate. It was more of a homecoming game for the 25-year-old wideout, who came to Kansas City via a trade with the New York Jets during the week. In his first game back with the franchise that drafted him in 2019, he made two critical plays that secured the Chiefs' Sunday afternoon win.
Both plays occurred when they mattered the most, and both helped Kansas City along their final real possession of the game (one final possession featured two kneel-downs in victory formation). The first was a 50-yard punt return after a 58-yard boot from JK Scott, setting the Chiefs up in Chargers territory at the 35-yard line. The second was an eight-yard reception on third-and-6, which kept the home team's final touchdown drive alive. Hardman hadn't done much to that point, going reception-less on offense and not bringing back any other punts or kicks.
Following the game, head coach Andy Reid tipped his cap to Hardman for a job well done and hinted at his role growing in weeks to come.
"Dave Toub had a plan for Mecole, and the guys blocked their hearts out for him and he busted that punt out," Reid said. "That was a huge play. And then he came back and had a big catch, so welcome back Mecole. And we only got him here on Thursday, so we'll keep adding stuff to his menu there."
He also acknowledged how the fifth-year receiver handled slotting right back into the system after some time away.
"It's a tough thing," Reid said. "I mean, he's been away for six months or so. Going through all their [plays] and learning that offense and then coming back to this is not easy to do. But Mecole is really smart. He's a smart kid, innately smart kid, so it wasn't hard for him to jump back in, pick up a few things that we had in the game plan and roll with those."
After playing out his entire rookie contract with the Chiefs, the team opted against bringing him back once he hit the free agent market in the spring. The Georgia product ended up signing a pretty inexpensive one-year deal with New York. After quarterback Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles in Week 1 and Hardman's role was left in limbo, the writing was on the wall for his future with the team. His former organization jumped at the opportunity to trade for him, sending a 2025 sixth-round pick to the Jets in exchange for Hardman and a 2025 seventh-round offering.
Hardman, who Reid described as "fearless" on Friday, suffered a scary injury last season that held him out of action for just over two months. He returned for the AFC Championship Game in January, although he admitted this week that he was at "65-70%" for that matchup. His toughness has never been in question, and he reiterated during his first press conference back in Kansas City that he wanted to play whatever role possible to help the team. His offensive workload wasn't anything crazy in game No. 1 in his not-so-new digs, and he even failed to come down with one of his two targets from quarterback Patrick Mahomes. According to Mahomes, though, Hardman still executed at a high level.
"Yeah, first off, on the first third down I missed him," Mahomes said. "He actually read it well. He saw the linebacker pushing to him, I saw the corner outside that Trav (Travis Kelce) was going to take that guy out of the way, so he actually read it the right way and I missed him. But the last one was Cover-0, using his speed, getting through traffic and making a big catch to get that first down. It's impressive because he didn't have the season that he wanted in New York but to be able to come back, have confidence, not be down on himself and know that whenever he gets his opportunity, he's going to do the most with it... and then, obviously, the punt return really put the game away. It's another piece that we can add to the offense, and that speed is hard to replicate."
Moving forward, the Chiefs will look to work Hardman in on offense while potentially continuing to rely on him as a punt returner. The speedy receiver is a valuable asset, especially on a team that was missing a consistent return man and a proven field-stretching presence of his caliber. There's also the energy element that Hardman provides, which has been brought up several times since his arrival back in the building. Fellow wideout Marquez Valdes-Scantling is happy that his teammate is back, and he felt his presence on the field during the huge win.
"I mean, it's great," Valdes-Scantling said. "Obviously, we traded for him for a reason. He's a hell of a player. Me and Mecole have a great friendship that stayed true even when he left. He was one of the first guys that I talked to when I got here and so being able to bring him back and just enjoy his energy — he's a loud one — but he's energetic and his play shows. He's electric, and you saw that today."
