Head coach Robert Saleh finally broke his silence on the New York Jets-Kansas City Chiefs trade for wide receiver Mecole Hardman.
Gang Green was on a bye week when the deal was made so Monday October 23 was the first time Saleh was made available.
Saleh explained to the media that the “major reason” Hardman lost playing time and ultimately his job in New York was due to the emergence of undrafted free agent Xavier Gipson.
“He [Gipson] is a big reason, he’s the major reason obviously,” Saleh said. “Mecole has been fantastic, a good young man, been very positive in the locker room and all that. He was battling injuries during OTAs and training camp trying to get himself back up to speed. In the meantime, while he was trying to get himself back up to speed. Here comes this undrafted rookie, you don’t expect anything from, but you’re like wow this guy is pretty good in OTAs. Then in training camp [we were like] man this guy is really freaking good.
So, it’s just an opportunity to develop a young guy and nothing against Mecole. It’s unfortunate but also excited for him and his opportunity. I though he did a really good job on that punt return yesterday. More of a testament to Xavier Gipson. He was able to get some reps because Mecole was still kind of recovering through his injury and he took it and ran with it and he’s doing a heck of a job.”
#Jets HC Robert Saleh showered WR Mecole Hardman (@MecoleHardman4) with a lot of love following his trade to the #Chiefs but said the ‘major reason’ for his exit was the emergence of UDFA Xavier Gipson + he used the Russell Wilson — Matt Flynn #Seahawks story from a few years ago…
Shortly after Saleh made those comments at the podium, Hardman responded on X previously Twitter.
Hardman posted “Hmmmm” with three blank faced emojis in response to Saleh’s explanation.
A few days before the trade went through, Hardman posted a cryptic response on social media.
“I can’t wait til I get a chance to really tell y’all what I really want to tell y’all and this don’t got nothing to do with my current situation either.”
I can’t wait til i get a chance to really tell y’all what I really want to tell y’all and this don’t got nothing to do with my current situation either
It Seems There Is More to the Hardman-Jets Story
Hardman didn’t seem to agree with Saleh’s assessment of what went wrong in New York.
The emergence of Gipson certainly took the special teams role away from Hardman who was slated to be the top return man. However, Gipson’s emergence doesn’t explain the lack of offensive snaps for Hardman.
The undrafted free agent has only appeared in 11 percent of the offensive snaps through the first six games of the season. Gipson has one catch for four yards to show for it.
Hardman on the other hand played 10 percent of the offensive snaps over that same span with the Jets.
The real culprit for Hardman’s inexplainable absence on offense is veteran wide receiver Randall Cobb. Cobb has appeared in 49 percent of the offensive snaps.
Aaron Rodgers’ BFF is “the least-productive receiver to run at least 100 routes in the NFL this season”, per Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic.
Hardman has every reason to be pissed off about the old man leapfrogging him on the depth chart especially with how poorly he has performed this season.
However, Rosenblatt also explained that Hardman struggled to adjust to playing with Aaron Rodgers and “learning his complicated system of hand signals.” In addition, Hardman “never connected with the coaching staff, either” which added to the problem.
Good News on the Horizon for the Jets
At the end of the day, the Jets have moved on and Hardman will have to do the same thing.
Looking ahead, it seems like the Jets will be making a change to the depth chart. Rosenblatt said the coaching staff is “excited” about giving Gipson a “greater role” on offense.
While they haven’t used him much on offense through the first half of the season, that is set to change after the bye week. Rosenblatt said the plan is to play Gipson “much more” and that will “likely” come at the expense of Cobb.
A lot of the things the veteran wideout contributes to the team can still happen, but more so from the bench instead of the starting lineup.
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Robert Saleh Breaks Silence on Jets-Chiefs Trade, Mecole Hardman Responds