Brett Veach says that with the right deal, Mecole Hardman could return in 2024

Kansas City’s general manager “wouldn’t be opposed” to “the right opportunity” for the wideout to come back.

After the Kansas City Chiefs traded wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins before the 2022 season, it was widely thought that fourth-year wideout Mecole Hardman would finally get his opportunity to shine as the team’s top receiving threat.

But things didn’t work out that way. After notching five starts in the first eight games of the season — in which quarterback Patrick Mahomes recorded a league-leading passer rating of 139.0 when targeting his speedy wideout — Hardman was placed on the team’s Reserve/Injured list with a mysterious abdomen injury. He finally worked his way back to play in the AFC Championship game (“When it comes down to playing, he is a tough, tough kid,” said head coach Andy Reid afterward). But in that contest, he suffered another abdomen injury that kept him out of the team’s Super Bowl victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.

By this time, most Kansas City fans had pretty much given up on Hardman. (In a postseason poll, just 38% believed Hardman would be re-signed in 2023). And since he had undergone core muscle surgery late in February, it wasn’t surprising that the team allowed him to walk in free agency. He signed a highly-incentivized one-year contract with the New York Jets worth up to $6.5 million — but in New York, Hardman was targeted just three times in six games. So, at the trading deadline, the Jets traded him back to the wideout-hungry Chiefs.

After his return, Hardman did little to suggest the Chiefs had made the right move to bring him back — but in the postseason, he returned to his efficient early 2022 form. While he only had five receptions, the last was a shot heard around the world: the three-yard walk-off touchdown catch that handed the Chiefs their second-straight NFL championship.

“Listen, I’m not saying anything about the Jets, because everybody doesn’t fit into every situation,” said Reid of Hardman’s return during his annual press appearance at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday. “That’s just not how it works in this league. We’d had Mecole. We kind of knew how he fits in our scheme — and he did a nice job with that.

“He came in, worked hard and was productive for us. He had a couple of hiccups early, but he worked through those. We knew he would — and ended up having some great plays in the Super Bowl.”

And this time, a return to Kansas City is at least a possibility.

“If there’s an opportunity there that makes sense for him — and us — I’m sure we wouldn’t be opposed to going down that road,” general manager Brett Veach told reporters during his Tuesday appearance at the Combine. “Listen, when you have a guy that has played in this offense and understands all the verbiage, all the dialogues, all the play checks?

“We didn’t have a lot of ammunition to do much at the trade deadline last year. That one just kind of opened itself up where the price wasn’t much. Our coaches knew him [and] he knew us — and it worked out.

“I mean, [I was] thrilled for him for that last play. I mean, what a turn of events for him! I love Mecole — and I’m sure we’ll be in contact with him.”