Kansas City Chiefs receiver Mecole Hardman ended last season with the game-winning touchdown in overtime of Super Bowl 58, but he started the 2023 season with a turbulent stint with the New York Jets.
“There’s no standard there,” Hardman said about the Jets during an appearance on “The Pivot” podcast.
Hardman signed with the Jets in March 2023, but only had one reception for 6 yards through five games. In October, he was traded back to the Chiefs, where he spent the first four years of his career and won two Super Bowls (2019, 2022) before hoisting another Lombardi Trophy earlier this month. Hardman is now set to be a free agent and said he’s prioritizing finding a team where he “can consistently be on the field” over a big payday, a lesson he said he learned after his time with the Jets.
“Going to the Jets, I saw that other side of somewhere you don’t want to be at,” he said. “Don’t look for that money. Go somewhere that’s established. … You know that they have a system in place and a standard.”
Mecole Hardman: Jets ‘don’t know what to do’
Hardman said the Jets’ offense, led by first-year offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, had no real plan after quarterback Aaron Rodgers went down with a torn Achilles in the team’s season opener. Hardman added that “there’s not an established coaching staff there.”
“You just got a new (offensive) coaching staff that came in and there’s no standard there,” he said. “Everybody does what they want to do. Granted, the defense has more of a…
