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A war of words has erupted between Kansas City Super Bowl hero Mecole Hardman and the Jets.
Jets sources both public and anonymous allege the receiver receiver leaked game plan material to both the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles before Jets game this past season out of spite because he wasn’t playing.
Also, some think there might have been tampering before the Chiefs traded for Hardman at the trade deadline this past season, because Hardman said on Channing Crowder’s podcast last week, “I had already talked to (GM) (Brett) Veach and Pat (Mahomes), like, ‘Come get me.'”
The reason Hardman said that is because as Hardman put it on the podcast with Crowder, “I was so checked out, like, it was over with.”
So let’s get into why he was so “checked out” with the Jets.
It’s because he was hardly playing.
Joe Douglas claims the reason for that was the emergence of rookie free agent Xavier Gipson.
“It was a situation (where) Xavier Gipson really came on for us this year and he did an outstanding job for us,” Douglas said. “Ultimately we made the decision to move on from Mecole. Our process of that and Mecole, he was excited to be here and it just didn’t work out. A lot of that has to do with Xavier.”
Not sure if it made much difference if Gipson had emerged or if he didn’t emerge.
After Aaron Rodgers got hurt, if you weren’t he first read in the passing offense, you were rarely going to see the ball.
Gipson might have taken Hardman’s playing time, but Gipson finished the season with 21 catches. Five catches came against Atlanta and four against Cleveland, so that means 12 catches in the rest of the games.
And this isn’t a critcism of Gipson who is clearly a good player, but if you’re not the first read in a one read offense, does it really matter who the third and four reads are?
Hardman could have played more before the trade, and he still would not have been very involved.
Not only was it a one-read offense, they were forcing it to Garrett Wilson, even when he wasn’t open.
With all the attention Wilson was getting in a one, two, three checkdown progerssion offense, Hardman should have been more involved, and so should Gipson after he took over for him, but the QBs, especially Zach Wilson and Tim Boyle, weren’t full field readers.
Hardman painted the Jets’ offense last year as a mess.
“You just got a new (offensive) coaching staff that came in and there’s no standard there,” Hardman said. “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 Rodgers show. Let Aaron do what Aaron does.’ Then, when Aaron goes down, it’s like we don’t know what to do.”
People around the Jets can be made at Hardman, but what did he say that was wrong in that quote?
What I don’t get is why Hardman won’t just be quiet and enjoy when of the greatest moments somebody could have in their life, catching the game-winning TD in a Super Bowl.
Who cares what happened with the Jets? They did right by him, and traded him to KC, and you got another ring.
It’s obvious, while Hardman has world-class speed, he has limitations as a player. K.C. let him walk last off-season, and it’s not like it would have cost a lot to keep him. They brought him back at the trade deadline because they were desperate, with a receiver room floundering.
But he’s good not great, and there might be something missing with him as a player.
However, the bottom line is no matter who the Jets secondary receivers were this year, after Rodgers got hurt, they weren’t going to see the ball much.
Ask Randall Cobb.
March 1, 2024
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