Super Bowl: Mecole Hardman's 'Hard Knocks' pick is coming partially true
Kansas City wide receiver Mecole Hardman (17) scores on a 25-yard touchdown run ahead of Buffalo Bills safety Micah Hyde (23) during the second half of an NFL divisional round playoff football game, Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022, in Kansas City, Mo. Credit: AP/Charlie Riedel
LAS VEGAS — Mecole Hardman predicted that he would be in the Super Bowl this year and would play the 49ers, but he saw himself on a different team. At the time, Hardman was with the Jets.
As shown in the second episode of “Hard Knocks,” when mentalist and magician Oz Pearlman visited Jets training camp, Hardman picked them to beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl, 31-21. Hardman is sticking with that score, but with Kansas City on top.
“If that score happens, it’s going to go viral and it’s going to be crazy,” Hardman told Newsday during Super Bowl Opening Night on Monday at Allegiant Stadium.
The Jets signed Hardman, a two-time Super Bowl champ with Kansas City, to a one-year, $4 million deal. They believed he could be a Swiss Army knife in an Aaron Rodgers-led offense. Things went south early for the Jets and for Hardman, though. Rodgers tore his left Achilles tendon four snaps into the season and Hardman didn’t play much more. He appeared in five games, 28 total snaps, and caught one pass for 6 yards.
The Jets traded him back to Kansas City on Oct. 18. The Jets got a sixth-round pick and sent a seventh-rounder and Hardman to Kansas City.
Robert Saleh said the emergence of undrafted rookie free agent Xavier Gipson as a receiver and special teams returner was “a major reason” the Jets moved on from Hardman.
Hardman took the high road on his brief Jets tenure, but he said their “mindset” needs to change for them to become a winning franchise.
“I got my opinions but I kind of just leave that where it be, leave that in the past,” he said about why it didn’t work out. “I just think now I’m on the right page.
“It’s a great organization. I think they got good pieces over there. When it comes down to it, you got to have something established, you’ve got to have the right mindset on how to go about things. I think once they get down and learn how to do that, I think they’ll become a good franchise.”
Hardman had positive things to say about Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who oversaw one of the NFL’s worst units and didn’t adjust well after losing Rodgers.
“I think Hack has the right tools to be one of the best OCs,” Hardman said. “But I think when you heavily involve an offense on one person, it kind of hurts a little.
“Aaron is just so smart, it’s so hard to replicate Aaron. He’s one of the best of all time and one of the smartest QBs I’ve seen, even though I didn’t get a chance to play games with him. Losing a piece like that with that kind of offense, it’s definitely going to hurt.”
Hardman felt “excitement” when he was sent back to KC. He’s caught 16 passes for 123 yards, playoffs included, for Kansas City.
“I never really came in with the mindset of I got to play, I got to get this and that,” he said. “Just happy to be back on the team and help where I could.”
Teammate Kadarius Toney, who had a checkered past with the Giants, is having a checkered present with Kansas City.
The receiver helped Kansas City win last year’s Super Bowl with a touchdown reception and a key punt return. This year he isn’t even sure if he’ll play on Super Sunday.
He hasn’t suited up since December because of ankle and hip injuries and last week, shortly before the AFC Championship Game, he went on Instagram to suggest that he wasn’t hurt at all, a contradiction to what his team was reporting.
Toney said he had “no comment” on his own comments, a twisty logic that seems to fit him. As for whether his social media session has changed the way he is seen inside the organization, he said: “At the end of the day, I’m not a fortune-teller. I don’t know. I don’t know.”
Whatever the reason — injury, discipline — there seems to be a good chance Toney will sit out Sunday’s game.
“This is a team sport,” he said. “It’s not track. It’s not the Olympics. I’m not Usain Bolt. I’m one of the 11 out there on the field.”
Maybe.
“Whatever they feel like they should do, that’s what they’ll do,” he said. “And if we win, does it really matter?”
With Tom Rock
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
