For the first six weeks of the NFL season, the New York Jets struggled to find a role for speedster Mecole Hardman on game day.
As a way to make both the team and the player happy, the Jets have decided to give Hardman back to the team he started his career with.
New York has traded the 28-year-old wide receiver to the Kansas City Chiefs for a late-round draft pick swap as first reported by Adam Schefter. New York will receive a 2025 sixth-round selection while a 2025 seventh-rounder will go back to Kansas City. A former second-round pick out of Georgia, Hardman will go back to the team that originally drafted him and where he was a pro-bowl caliber player.
The Jets signed Hardman to a one-year, $4 million deal but with the emergence of undrafted rookie Xavier Gipson, struggled to find a role for him on the field. The speedster appeared in five games this season, was a healthy scratch for one, and was a participant in just 10% of the offensive plays to this point.
In five games, Hardman has just one catch for six yards.
With the trade, New York now opens up a roster spot just two weeks before the NFL Trade Deadline while the Chiefs get a needed component to their passing attack. While the two sides were unable to identify a role for each other in 2023, the Jets decided that the best move forward was a clean slate for both parties.
