Mecole Hardman gets injured during Chiefs’ OTA practice
By Byron Smith
The Chiefs receiving group loses another top target after Mecole Hardman tweaked his hamstring during yesterday’s OTA practice.
After trading Tyreek Hill to Miami, the Kansas City Chiefs made receiver one of their focuses of the 2022 offseason. Unfortunate for the red and gold, it appears they will be down another receiver for a few days.
On Thursday, head coach Andy Reid reported wide receiver Mecole Hardman has tweaked his hamstring during OTA practices. Hardman was absent from Thursday’s practice and likely will be sidelined for the rest of this session of OTAs, as well as the slate scheduled for June 7-10.
Mecole Hardman’s injury is extremely misfortunate for him, given his current contract and roster spot.
Even before trading Hill, Kansas City made great additions to their wide receiver room, bringing in JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling to add some depth that has been missing from that group since the departure of Sammy Watkins a few seasons ago. They also grabbed great hands in the draft, picking up Skyy Moore in the second round and making waves by picking up undrafted free agent Justyn Ross.
Add this to the best pass-catching tight end in the league, Travis Kelce, and the Chiefs’ passing attack is just as scary, if not scarier, than it has ever been before.
Hardman is in the last year of his rookie deal, and where saying his tenure with the Chiefs has been a failure would be inaccurate, deeming it underwhelming would be spot on. His spot on the roster is likely safe for this season, with the departure of Demarcus Robinson and Byron Pringle really thinning out the ranks, but without a season that displays average or above average production, Hardman may be looking at his final year in Kansas City.