“I was so checked out.”
The 2023 NFL season has come and gone and the Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl champions once again. Mecole Hardman is also a Super Bowl champion for the third time in his career but he wasn’t even a member of the Chiefs when the season kicked off.
Hardman signed a one-year deal worth $4 million with the New York Jets and while it wasn’t a huge loss for the Chiefs, it was still sad to see a two-time champ depart. Fortunately, Hardman wasn’t gone for long. He appeared in just five games for the Jets before the Chiefs traded for him and went on to make the game-winning catch in the Super Bowl.
Hardman appeared on Ryan Clark’s podcast and explained what went down with the Jets and he didn’t hold back.
Former Jets WR/Super Bowl hero Mecole Hardman, appearing on @Realrclark25's Pivot podcast, shed some light on what led to his trade from the Jets. For instance:
* Hardman said he refused to return punts vs KC because he felt STC Brant Boyer had misled him about the…
— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) February 27, 2024
Mecole Hardman accuses Jets of lying to him and says there was no standard
Per Rich Cimini’s tweet above, Hardman refused to return punts for the Jets special team coach because he had been misled about the job during training camp. He said he was dealing with a hyperextended pinky and didn’t want to further injure himself. It’s at that point that Hardman realized things weren’t going to work out for him with the Jets.
“Hardman candidly admitted that, by that point, “I was so checked out, like, it was over with. I had already talked to (KC GM Brett) Veach and Pat (Mahomes), like, ‘Come get me.’” Two weeks later, he was traded back to KC.”
– Rich Cimini
The Chiefs granted Hardman his wish and the rest is history. While he had some tough times in his return to the team that drafted him, he’ll go down in Super Bowl history with his game-winning touchdown catch in overtime to give KC its third title in four years to officially cement them as a dynasty.
Also from Cimini’s tweet, Hardman trashed the culture of the Jets, noting that there was “no standard there.” He said that the offense pretty much just lets Aaron Rodgers do whatever he wants but then when he went down, no one knew what was happening.
“* On the Jets’ 2023 culture/Hackett: “You just got a new (offensive) coaching staff that came in and there’s no standard there. Everybody does what they want to do. Granted, the defense has more of a stabilized standard with the coaching staff on that side, so the defense has a standard. But the offense is just like, ‘We’ll just figure it out. It’s Aaron’s show. Let Aaron do what Aaron does.’ Then when Aaron goes down, it’s like we don’t know what to do.””
– Rich Cimini
It’s safe to say that Hardman won’t be rejoining the New York Jets anytime soon and that’s probably for the best for both sides.
