What's up with Mecole Hardman?

[carcosa]

Pringle was getting all the snaps down the stretch. Is he in the doghouse? (I'm only partially asking because I started him in fantasy thinking he'd get some looks with Watkins out)

Seems like he's regressed a lot this season, unfortunately...

[philfree]

Seems like maybe some people's expectations may have been set a little high early in his career. Hardman is only 22 though so he's doing fine. Next year should be his year to take a pretty good step forward. In the mean time he's made several big plays for us. He's been a contributor from day one.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by -King-

So what were your expectations for him this season? Did he meet them? I know you were expecting him to be a breakout star. Is he? Those 22 extra yards from 19 more catches and 2 less touchdowns really took him to the next level huh?

I’ve been over this with you.

The Chiefs have an offense full of established veterans, so who else was there to choose as a breakout player on offense?

You said you don’t think this is a “gotcha”, but you keep going back to it like it is. It’s not.

In that thread, it was even discussed that while Hardman seemed like an obvious choice, it was always going to be difficult for him to truly breakout with Sammy/Robinson returning and Hill/Kelce getting their usual targets. I never disagreed with that at all, just went with the obvious choice because like I said there weren’t many others.

[staylor26]

“Really took him to the next level huh?”

If shit like that doesn’t make it obvious that King is just a disingenuous contrarian bundle of sticks, I don’t know what is.

It’s almost as if he roots against Clark and Hardman, two dudes that played a role in bringing us our SB ring less than a year ago. They’re both extremely likable and have made plays for the last 2 years, yet you treat them like they’re Ben Niemann or Demarcus Robinson. I’d understand if it were somebody like that, but why do you get off shitting on Clark and Hardman?

Like are you even really a Chiefs fan?

[-King-]

Originally Posted by staylor26

I’ve been over this with you.

The Chiefs have an offense full of established veterans, so who else was there to choose as a breakout player on offense?

You said you don’t think this is a “gotcha”, but you keep going back to it like it is. It’s not.

In that thread, it was even discussed that while Hardman seemed like an obvious choice, it was always going to be difficult for him to truly breakout with Sammy/Robinson returning and Hill/Kelce getting their usual targets. I never disagreed with that at all, just went with the obvious choice because like I said there weren’t many others.

That doesn't add up

Originally Posted by staylor26

Yet he still had 538 yards and 6 TD’s last year. He clearly doesn’t need a lot of targets to be productive.

If the offense is firing on all cylinders like 2018...

He got 21 more targets and 19 more catches than last year and came out with just 22 more yards and 2 less touchdowns. C'mon, you clearly thought he would go off and be a lot better than he's been this year. It's okay to say it. It doesn't mean you hate him or that he can't get better in the future.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by staylor26

“Really took him to the next level huh?”

If shit like that doesn’t make it obvious that King is just a disingenuous contrarian bundle of sticks, I don’t know what is.

It’s almost as if he roots against Clark and Hardman, two dudes that played a role in bringing us our SB ring less than a year ago. They’re both extremely likable and have made plays for the last 2 years, yet you treat them like they’re Ben Niemann or Demarcus Robinson. I’d understand if it were somebody like that, but why do you get off shitting on Clark and Hardman?

Like are you even really a Chiefs fan?

No, im a broncos fan.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by -King-

That doesn't add up





He got 21 more targets and 19 more catches than last year and came out with just 22 more yards and 2 less touchdowns. C'mon, you clearly thought he would go off and be a lot better than he's been this year. It's okay to say it. It doesn't mean you hate him or that he can't get better in the future.

I’ve already said that the production hasn’t quite gone up like you’d hope, but that doesn’t mean those factors didn’t contribute after all. It was easy to look past them when it was the offseason and we just came off winning a ****ing SB and optimism was sky high. Sorry my optimism went a little overboard and I expected him to maintain a level of efficiency that probably just wasn’t possible.

Again, this isn’t the “gotcha” that you think it was.

Who else was there to choose from as a breakout player? Hardman was the obvious choice. It means absolutely nothing in this argument.

I couldn’t care less that Hardman’s production stayed about the same when we’re 14-1 have the 1 seed and he’s at least improving as a route runner and continuing to make plays while he develops.

[O.city]

I'm not sure he's developing like you'd quite hope, but in this offense there just weren't gonna be enough balls to go around with Kelce and Hill sucking up targets.

Once Sammy went down, you'd hope Hardman would step right in there. Didn't happen.

I dunno, he's not a bad player by any means. I'm not sure he's ever a full well rounded great WR. But he's good with the ball in his hands and has his strengths.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by O.city

I'm not sure he's developing like you'd quite hope, but in this offense there just weren't gonna be enough balls to go around with Kelce and Hill sucking up targets.

Once Sammy went down, you'd hope Hardman would step right in there. Didn't happen.

I dunno, he's not a bad player by any means. I'm not sure he's ever a full well rounded great WR. But he's good with the ball in his hands and has his strengths.

I agree with this. I would like to see a few more jet sweeps with him and try running short routes with him and see if he can get some YAC. All he needs is to make 1 person miss and it can turn into a big play.

[philfree]

Can't leave out Hardman's return skills. Including his returns he has 2,377 combined yards and 12 TDs in his two years as a Chief. He's only 22 years old so he's done great. He makes a mistake or two but like I said he's only 22.

[staylor26]

I don’t know why it keeps getting lost in the conversation, but this is just Hardman’s 4th year playing WR, and he hasn’t gotten the reps to know what his ceiling is.

We know that he’s a playmaker. We know that he’s one of the fastest guys in the NFL. We know that his hand are adequate. We know that his route tree has grown form year 1 to year 2.

We also know that throughout Reid’s tenure they’ve been extremely patient with draft picks. The only reason CEH and Hunt became RB1 their rookie years is because of injury and opting out. And that’s a position that is much less difficult to learn than WR. I think Tyreek’s development has really messed with people’s expectations with Hardman. Hardman is not Tyreek and never will be. And that’s fine.

But maybe just have a little more patience and wait until year 3 when he legitimately gets his opportunity to shine?

[ToxSocks]

Originally Posted by -King-

So what were your expectations for him this season?

In terms of what?

[O.city]

Originally Posted by staylor26

I don’t know why it keeps getting lost in the conversation, but this is just Hardman’s 4th year playing WR, and he hasn’t gotten the reps to know what his ceiling is.

We know that he’s a playmaker. We know that he’s one of the fastest guys in the NFL. We know that his hand are adequate. We know that his route tree has grown form year 1 to year 2.

We also know that throughout Reid’s tenure they’ve been extremely patient with draft picks. The only reason CEH and Hunt became RB1 their rookie years is because of injury and opting out. And that’s a position that is far more difficult to learn than WR. I think Tyreek’s development has really messed with people’s expectations with Hardman. Hardman is not Tyreek and never will be. And that’s fine.

But maybe just have a little more patience and wait until year 3 when he legitimately gets his opportunity to shine?

The problem is you just don't have that long before you have to start thinking about a contract. Which, complicates things.

You've still got 2 years so we aren't there yet, but you'd like to have a pretty good idea by the end of next year.

[lcarus]

Even if Hardman doesn't make a lot of plays, he has that type of "holy shit" speed that defenses have to account for on every snap. That in itself is valuable to the offense.

[Easy 6]

He deserves a boot in his ass for yesterdays muff, that said all the other wailing and gnashing of teeth about him doesn't make any sense to me

Coming out it was common knowledge he was very raw as a route runner, and now here he is a sophomore who still needs some refinement... its not some big shocker

Nevertheless the guy has delivered more huge plays than I can remember already, its gonna be fine... R.E.L.A.X.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by staylor26

“Really took him to the next level huh?”

If shit like that doesn’t make it obvious that King is just a disingenuous contrarian bundle of sticks, I don’t know what is.

It’s almost as if he roots against Clark and Hardman, two dudes that played a role in bringing us our SB ring less than a year ago. They’re both extremely likable and have made plays for the last 2 years, yet you treat them like they’re Ben Niemann or Demarcus Robinson. I’d understand if it were somebody like that, but why do you get off shitting on Clark and Hardman?

Like are you even really a Chiefs fan?

confirmation bias.