Chiefs’ Mecole Hardman Faces Leaking & Tampering Accusations After Criticizing Jets

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman has renewed his beef with the New York Jets this week, describing the team as unorganized and dysfunctional. In return, several Jets players have described him as bitter and accused him of leaking their game plans to other teams.

Hardman began his career in Kansas City, where he spent first four seasons as a deep route runner with moderate success. The Jets signed him in the 2023 off-season, hoping to give new quarterback Aaron Rodgers versatile receiving options. Rodgers went down with a season-ending injury in Week 1 and Hardman struggled to earn playing time, appearing in just five games and making one six-yard reception.

New York traded Hardman back to Kansas City in October, giving him a chance to reunite with his former team. Though he did little during the regular season, he went on to catch the game-winning touchdown in the Super Bowl to help the Chiefs defeat the 49ers.

Even after winning his second championship in Kansas City, however, Hardman still had harsh words for his former team in East Rutherford on an episode of The Pivot Podcast published Tuesday.

“I ain’t trying to bash nobody, but y’all treat certain guys that shouldn’t be treated like they’re treated,” Hardman said. “I don’t understand why you feel I can’t compete with any of these guys y’all are playing in front of me. I just feel like it’s not an established coaching staff there. You just got a new coaching staff that came in and there’s no standard there. Everybody do what they want to do.”

Most of the receiver’s complaints seemed directed at Nathaniel Hackett, the Jets’ offensive coordinator who joined the team last summer. Hackett was coming off a dreadful 2022 season as head coach of the Broncos, but the Jets reportedly hired him in order to sway Rodgers away from the Packers. The pair worked together extensively in Green Bay.

“Granted, the defense has more of a stabilized standard with the coaching staff on that side, so you can tell the defense has got a standard,” Hardman said. “But the offense is just like, ‘We’ll just figure it out. It’s Aaron’s show. Let Aaron do what Aaron do.’ But then when Aaron goes down, it’s like, ‘We don’t know what to do.’ But it’s that same coach (Hackett) that was out of a job the previous year, but managed to get a new job.”

The wide receiver’s comments have dredged up longstanding criticism of the Jets’ 2023 season, in which the team invested most of its time securing Rodgers at quarterback, only for the 40-year-old to suffer an Achilles injury. Jets players have also been quick to strike back at Hardman, however.

“Be careful getting information from disgruntled former employees,” Jets punter Thomas Morstead said in a social media post Tuesday. “Getting beat out by a rookie free agent (presumably Xavier Gipson) after being guaranteed millions of dollars is tough to deal with.”

While Morstead simply dismissed Hardman’s claims, Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner took things a step further when he seemed to imply that the former Jets receiver leaked the team’s game plans to several opponents. These opponents reportedly included the Eagles and Chiefs. Subsequent reports suggest that this was a widespread belief about Hardman within the team.

In addition to accusations of leaking game plans, Hardman also caused a problem for himself during the podcast interview when he claimed that he told Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and general manager Brian Veach to “come get me.” Such conversations before a trade could qualify as illegal tampering. Hardman clarified his comments in a social media post Wednesday.

“Never had talks with KC before the trade, so we can CLEAR THAT UP!” Hardman said. “The Jets handled my trade on their own and did the right thing by sending me back to KC!”

Veach said that the Chiefs may re-sign Hardman for the 2024 season, though his future with the team still remains unclear.