Paul Bretl | 3/18/2025
GREEN BAY — The Packers made the move that everyone has been waiting for–GM Brian Gutekunst has signed a free-agent wide receiver, although I’m going to guess the addition is coming later than most would have liked.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Packers are signing receiver Mecole Hardman to a one-year deal. At this time, contract details have not been reported.
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Hardman is a former second-round pick by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2019 NFL draft out of Georgia. Hardman has spent the majority of his career in Kansas City, outside of the first half of the 2023 season, when he was with the New York Jets, before being traded back to the Chiefs that same year.
Over the past two seasons, Hardman has played a smaller role in the Chiefs’ offense, totaling 32 receptions on 43 targets at 8.4 yards per catch. He did miss some time this past season due to injury.
His best season came in 2021 when Hardman caught 67 passes for 814 yards with three scores. During his time with the Chiefs, Hardman has plenty of big-game experience, and includes catching the game-winning touchdown in the 2023 Super Bowl.
“I’ve played with Mecole for a long time. He’s always ready for the moment, and he’s someone that continues to practice hard and get better,” said Patrick Mahomes of Hardman. “And obviously, that receiver rotation, we were bouncing around a lot of guys all year long, and those guys just continue to work. Just like the last Super Bowl, you never know who it’s gonna be, but it’s about everybody being ready for the moment and he was he was ready for that moment in a couple big plays.”
Hardman, who can play both from the slot and the boundary, possessed 4.33 speed coming out of Georgia–an element this Packers’ offense needs with Christian Watson sidelined. However, even during his productive 2021 season, only 13 of Hardman’s targets came 20 yards downfield.
Instead, he got the ball frequently within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage or behind it on designed touches where his speed and YAC ability could take over, which includes 39 career carries. So, this addition may not solve the Packers’ need for a vertical presence in the offense.
This addition to the receiver room provides added depth and boosts the competition for snaps within it. However, this signing isn’t the cure-all when it comes to finding more consistency and explosive plays in the passing game. As I described recently, this is one of those additions that increases the competition, and the hope is that, in turn, it increases the urgency at the position and elevates the play of that unit.
Internal development at wide receiver is still going to have to be the catalyst when it comes to getting more steady play from this unit.
“You’d like to have somebody move into that space,” Gutekunst said of having a No. 1 receiver, “but, at the same time, I’d like multiple guys to be able to move into that space. What I’m looking for is guys that, when they’re called upon, can perform at a high level. I think we have a lot of guys that have done that.”
While Hardman had a relatively small role on offense for the Chiefs recently, his greatest impact came has a return man, where he was a second-team All-Pro in 2019.
More recently, during the 2024 season, Hardman had five kick return attempts and averaged 26.4 yards per return. He also had 20 punt return attempts, averaging 10.2 yards per return. For some context, Hardman ranked 37th in yards per kick return league-wide and 17th in yards per punt attempt out of 45 eligible return men.
“He’s a dynamic player,” Chiefs’ special teams coordinator Dave Toub said of Hardman in 2023. “He’s the fastest player. He’ll be the fastest player on our team now, as soon as he got here. So it’s that breakaway speed ability.”
At the NFL combine, Gutekunst said that he wanted multiple options at kick returner, which Hardman now provides. We don’t know what the future holds at the return position for Keisean Nixon, who after the season, said he wanted to focus solely on playing cornerback or even Jayden Reed, who had his ups and downs on punt duties.
Not surprisingly, given how the Packers operate and how Gutekunst goes about constructing the roster, this is a signing that gives them options. Hardman creates added competition at receiver and depth at the position while also providing the Packers with another option on the kick and punt return units.
This is also a signing that in no way should impact how the Packers go about addressing the receiver position in the NFL draft.