KC Chiefs: Five serious questions at wide receiver

Can Mecole Hardman thrive without Tyreek?

If you rewind your Chiefs-related memories back to the 2019 NFL Draft in which the team selected Mecole Hardman in the second round, you’ll remember that you were likely quite nervous with the thought that Tyreek Hill had played his last snap in the. National Football League. The scandal surrounding (later proven false) allegations of child abuse sent the team into a spiral shortly before the most important weekend of the offseason. In response, Hardman was the first drafted target for the Chiefs in hopes of having some sort of fallback in case the worst-case scenario played out.

While the good news was that Hill was exonerated from all such claims, Hardman has been living in the shadows ever since. While Hill is not a complete match for Hill’s skill set, he entered the league with the same sort of wideout makeup that would have been used to describe the Cheetah, and the offense has largely resorted to scripted plays to best utilize Hardman’s top speed over his first three seasons.

Last year, Hardman seemed like he was making a leap as a route-runner, and with Hill completely gone from the roster, it could be a real branching out opportunity in a contract season for a player who’s been misunderstood by fans at times during his three-year stint in K.C.

At the very least, Hardman remains an occasional mismatch to be deployed at strategic times in ’22. However, it’s possible that his own growth and a trusting coaching staff might let him step up into more responsibility and reps.