There are signs Chiefs’ Mecole Hardman has turned a key corner. Here’s what we mean
On a weekday last fall, a small contingent of reporters encircled Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman in front of his locker and asked about his favorite topic.
Speed.
Ten feet away, Tyreek Hill’s nameplate fastened above a neighboring locker, and so naturally, the question was asked. Hey, who would win a foot race between you and Tyreek?
It’s a tired topic really — and one that Hill has since answered with video evidence — but it prompted an honest moment from Hardman a few weeks into his rookie season.
“This might be the first locker room I’ve been in,” he said, “where I haven’t been the fastest guy in the locker room.”
One year later, the statement of self-awareness encapsulates Hardman’s NFL progress, a development that some had hoped would accelerate more evidently in Year Two.
For most of his football playing days, Hardman could coast on his 4.33 speed. Could dominate with it. It showcased his most obvious talent and hid some things that needed improving. Even today in the NFL, it remains a world-class asset — among his 10 career touchdowns, eight of them have been 30 yards or longer. He’s one of the game’s better home run threats.
But he doesn’t want it to be his only asset. The Chiefs have worked to transition Hardman to a more complete receiver, and if there’s a real correlation with Hill, that’s the one he wants to make. Forget the speed.
As a rookie, Hill became known primarily for his quickness, though some considered him something of a gimmick player who could burn you every now and then if you weren’t careful. In his fifth season, he’s developed into one of the best all-around wide receivers in the league. Speed is now part of his repertoire, not all of his repertoire. It’s just the start of what makes it all click.
What better example than this season?
In the newest wave of defenses adjusting to Patrick Mahomes, the majority of teams have centered on taking away the long passes. They play deep-lying safeties and make the Chiefs beat them with short and intermediate routes underneath.
It’s an effort to neutralize the speed, forcing Hill and Hardman to turn to their next best trick. Hill has dug in. He is actually averaging more touchdowns per game this season than any of his first four years in the league. Even when the ball isn’t in his hands, the Chiefs believe his route tree is so feared by opposing defenses than he’s drawing extra attention, opening things up for other receivers.
This is the same growth the Chiefs are seeking from Hardman, whom they selected in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft. They’re helping develop a wider arsenal than the vertical routes they so often ask him to run.
There are signs he’s heading in that direction. A few came Sunday, though not just because he had a career-best seven receptions. Rather, it’s the manner in which a couple of them came. He had the 30-yard touchdown catch after securing the ball on a pitch in the backfield. “I had to score on that,” he said. “That’s how well they blocked it up.”
Indeed, look elsewhere for the signs that could bode well for the future. On a 3rd-and-14 play in the third quarter, for example, Hardman picked up a first down on a comeback route at the sticks. The pattern initially looked like another go route, fooling Jets cornerback Pierre Desire into tracking deeper and deeper. But Hardman planted his foot in the ground, turned, and awaited a Mahomes pass. Wide open.
If teams are going to continue to float into the secondary against Hardman — and let’s be honest, the film suggests that’s precisely what Desir should have done — these types of routes are not only the best ways to beat them; they’re also the best avenue toward forcing adjustments that in turn will re-open those deep routes.
Win. Win.
“We’re getting him kind of caught up to the different fundamental techniques and all the coverages that you see,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.
It’s not a new quest, and it’s not a unique one when it pertains to young players, either. Hardman spent the offseason working on the short and intermediate routes so defenses couldn’t be so one-dimensional in the way they allocate their attention to him.
It’s an enhancement he already knows he must add in order to become a more regular fixture in the offense. One of a few. The Chiefs are also working on his release, ensuring he can still “play fast through contact,” as receivers coach Greg Lewis framed it.
And they’re addressing one other point that provided the final positive sign last week. It’s a play in which Mahomes drew most of the attention and appropriately so. As he drifted to the left sideline, he threw back against his body to complete a pass to Hardman, who had continued running long after his route. A make-something-happen effort turned a play into a positive gain when it initially appeared it would produce nothing.
“The thing that we talk about all the time is making sure he’s straining to finish and making sure that second effort is always there,” offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy said. “My biggest conversations with him are not what he’s going to do when the ball is in his hands.”
Hardman put it into action Sunday. He was rewarded with his most productive day of the season — 7 catches, 96 yards and a touchdown.
The Chiefs have made an extra effort recently to involve him early in games. On the first snap in Denver, they handed him a reverse. Later in that first quarter, he added two catches for 57 yards. Last weekend against the Jets, the pitch play designed for him capped the first drive.
They know Hardman can be dangerous with the ball.
But the more diverse he can be in finding ways to obtain it, the most consistently those dangerous moments will materialize.
This story was originally published November 8, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "There are signs Chiefs’ Mecole Hardman has turned a key corner. Here’s what we mean."