Mecole Hardman gives Kansas City Chiefs another potential scoring machine

We have not yet had the opportunity to see Mecole Hardman on the field in red and gold, but there is plenty to take away from his time at Georgia. Let’s get the obvious one out of the way: Speed. Hardman has elite speed and acceleration which made him a threat to go the distance any time he touched the ball in college. Hardman also appears to have a good contact balance and is not afraid of being physical, despite only weighing 187 pounds. Check out the following play.

This is one of many examples of Hardman’s ability to turn a 6-yard pass into 6 points for the offense. I mentioned that he has elite speed and acceleration because running a 4.3 40 yard dash does not automatically mean you’re going to play fast on the field. (See: Conley, Chris.) Check out this play against Missouri, pointed out by the Draft Network’s Brad Kelly.

There is a lot to like from Hardman, and the same traits that could make him a special deep threat also make him a great special teams player. Hardman made the most of every time he touched the ball and averaged over 20 yards per punt return in 2018.

Hardman is not without fault as a receiver. For the most part, he does a good job at breaking down and being snappy in and out of his breaks, but can round them off sometimes and has an occasional half step/bounce movement that’s unnecessary. My two biggest worries with Hardman are his inconsistency with catching balls in traffic and his occasional habit of watching a play versus being involved.

You can see both these concerns in back to back plays against LSU last season. In this video at the 45-second mark you get the first play where Hardman runs a corner route, then slows down and lets himself get tangled with the defender before seemingly realizing the play is still going and then tries to start running again. This may seem minor, but when you have Patrick Mahomes, who is as good as anyone has ever been at making plays when things break down, you can’t stop to watch. Run until you hear those whistles.

The very next play we see Hardman fail to come down with a tough contest ball on an inside post route. I’m less worried about this as the Chiefs offense schemes guys open, but it would be a huge plus for Hardman to come down with some of those tougher catches.

One final note about Hardman. He came to Georgia as a five-star recruit who played quarterback, receiver, and corner. There is a reason to believe that Hardman has just begun to tap into his potential as a receiver.