Chiefs rumors: Mecole Hardman expected to ‘play a bunch Week 1’

For anyone who thinks Mecole Hardman is going to slowly ingratiate himself into the Chiefs offense, James Palmer of NFL Network says that’s not the case.

The Kansas City Chiefs selection of Mecole Hardman came with a lot of preconceived notions and expectations—from the reason for the pick to the amount he would be utilized. It turns out that much of that might have been wrong from the beginning.

James Palmer of NFL Network checked in from Chiefs rookie minicamp on Tuesday with word on Hardman and the Chiefs with insights on how much the team is giving him. It’s clear that Hardman has been given plenty of opportunities to learn and showcase what he can do in the three-day minicamp and Palmer says it’s for good reason.

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“From what I saw out of practice today, he’s not really leaving the field,” said Palmer. “They’re throwing a lot at him, and he’s putting out there a lot of different routes, lining up at a lot of different spots. That’s the versatility that they feel like they have with him.

“They expect him to play a bunch Week 1, hence why they’re throwing so much at him during this rookie minicamp. They expect because of his intelligence and the way he can line up all over the field, they want to play him a bunch starting right from the jump—obviously special teams but want to make him a part of this offense as well.”

Much of that playing time might be assumedly coming from Tyreek Hill’s role, but Palmer even has insight into that relationship. While the majority of draft experts assumed Brett Veach traded up from No. 61 to 56 in the second round to take Hardman due to the lingering drama and legal issues around Hill, the team’s top punt returner and wide receiver, Palmer says that’s simply not the case.

“A lot of people say this was a Tyreek Hill insurance policy if there’s a suspension or if he’s released,” said Palmer. “We still don’t know, but my understanding is they’ve had their eye on Hardman for a long, long, long time. This was a guy, if he was going to be available, they were going to go after and add to their roster and they traded up five spots to do just that.”

Veach reiterated this same thing immediately after the draft—namely that Hardman wasn’t some late substitute on their draft board given the current situation. Even if Hill were able to play all 16 games in 2019, which again, no one knows what will happen, if you take the Chiefs at their word, they were ready to add Hardman to the offense anyway.

What this means is that Veach’s vision was for the team to have two Tyreek-esque players on the field at the same time, creating mismatches with top end speed at two positions as the team sought to add another offensive weapon and depth at receiver.

Hardman never put up the kind of stats at Georgia that you’d expect for such a highly-rated wideout with top end speed, but the Bulldogs’ ground game does that to most wideouts. Last year, Hardman had 35 catches for 543 yards and 7 touchdowns.