Was Mecole Hardman’s big day a sign of things to come for KC Chiefs?

Mecole Hardman had a very, very big day for the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday. Given the slim margin of victory, it’s likely that the team doesn’t win its 12th game, and secure one of the two top seeds in the AFC, without him.

Hardman saved his first 100 game of the season, and his entire career, for Saturday’s 28-24 win over the Denver Broncos. It was a welcome surprise for Chiefs Kingdom to see Hardman catch 8 of 11 targets for 103 yards on the day. He was instrumental in the team’s ability to move the chains at pivotal moments, and the Chiefs overall did just enough to overcome Denver at home.

For fans, the breakout effort from Hardman comes at a point where the term “breakout” is no longer used—or at least it feels that way. Nearing the end of his third full season, Hardman is a known commodity around these parts, which means no one was expecting the former Georgia Bulldog to break out like he did.

Mecole Hardman‘s big game could be a symbol for things to come.

The 103-yard performance has us curious if this is a harbinger (a good one, at least) of things to come. It’s important to remember this: Hardman is still only 23 years old. It’s easy to think of him as a player through three middling years of production, but he’s dug a bit deeper to increase his catch rate, handle some more reps and targets, and set career marks in yards.

On the one hand, Hardman has 55 games of instruction from Andy Reid and chemistry with Patrick Mahomes. He knows the playbook, trusts his teammates, and the Chiefs aren’t going to ask him to do something he cannot. On the other hand, Hardman is still so young with plenty of room to continue to grow with more responsibility.

Is there room and time at this point for Hardman to turn into a greater offensive threat? Was that a one-time uptick in production that will fade just as quickly as it surfaced? At this point, it’s impossible to say.

In the past, Hardman has averaged greater depth of target but his usage rate is up this year. That’s due in part of the loss of Sammy Watkins in free agency with no obvious signing or acquisition to make up for those lost targets. (If you answered Cornell Powell, then you’re still waiting for those results for sure.)

All of this taken together means that it’s impossible to say one way or the other, although the Chiefs would have hoped to see a bit more from Hardman up to this point. However, he’s still young with several professional years ahead of him who might just need continued belief and reps in order to take his game to the next level.