Patrick Mahomes called for Mecole Hardman to be “a big part” of the Chiefs’ new wide receiver corps in an NFL Network interview on Monday afternoon.
NFL Network posted up at training camp for the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday afternoon in St. Joseph and hosted a number of interviews. Defensive lineman Chris Jones made waves by discussing the improvements along the d-line and, more specifically, the transformation Frank Clark went through this offseason.
After Jones, quarterback Patrick Mahomes was in front of the camera and got teed up with a probing question, “I want you to make one receiver feel really good, and the rest of them a lot more hungry. Who have you really developed chemistry with all these new receivers?”
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Mahomes’ response was about as prototypical of a quarterback answer as he could give, but concluded with a note that may come as a surprise to some.
"”We’ve had a great camp. JuJu’s done a great job, made a lot of big plays. Marquez has made a lot of big plays, and I think Mecole has taken that step [to fill] that spot that Tyreek did in those deep routes. He’s accepted that challenge, and we’ll have everybody kind of developing and doing different types of stuff, but he’s about to be a big part of it and I’m excited for him.”"
After Mecole Hardman became trapped in Tyreek Hill’s shadow after his draft night, the question of whether or not he would ever develop into a consistent contributor emerged. Coming off of the best season of his young career in 2021, and entering a contract year this season, the timing is perfect for Hardman to take a leap into a prominent role in this offense.
Patrick Mahomes calls for Mecole Hardman to take on a bigger role with Chiefs in 2022
To drive home the reality of Mahomes’ comments on Hardman, here is a reminder of what Special Teams Coordinator Dave Toub had to say about Mecole’s developing role with the team.
"“We’re gonna try to work McDuffie in and Skyy [on punts]. We need to get somebody else doing it, because, I mean, if Mecole is getting a lot of reps, as much as Tyreek did, we gotta cut him back a little bit. We’re really gonna need to establish a couple more guys.”"
This came in response to a question in regards to how things were coming along with depth amongst returners, and whether or not Mecole Hardman would remain the guy on punts.
Tyreek Hill spent his young days shaping into the receiver he is now by earning his stripes on the Chiefs’ special teams unit, maybe we will see a breakout emergence from Hardman in 2022 similar to that of Hill. He was, after all, drafted to be Hill’s replacement in 2019.