Patrick Mahomes may have spent some time ribbing rookie wide receiver Mecole Hardman on Twitter just a few days ago, but don’t let that fool you. Mahomes was very excited when the Chiefs added a new offensive weapon. During his media availability Thursday, Mahomes spoke about the progress that he’s seen from Hardman.
“He’s a great player,” Mahomes said. “Obviously, he’s very fast, but he’s working on everything – route running, getting accustomed to the offense. I was very excited.”
Rookies are going to go through a learning process right away, and for Hardman, that process might be a bit more extensive. He only has two years of experience playing wide receiver, in what was considered a run-heavy offense. He’ll need to hammer down the minutiae of being a wide receiver in the NFL, such as route running and learning Andy Reid’s advanced West Coast spread hybrid offense.
For Mahomes, the decision to draft Hardman was about this never-satisfied mentality that the Chiefs’ front office has brought to the table. Mahomes seems to be fully bought into this idea himself.
“When you add guys and add depth, it really is a special thing to know that the staff and everybody keeps adding and are never satisfied with where we are at,” Mahomes said. “We are going to keep getting better every single year.”
The addition of Hardman is only going to help the Chiefs continue to get better and stronger as a team, regardless of whether he’s a Week 1 starter or plays a depth role and pushes someone else on the roster to get better.
