The Green Bay Packers’ latest addition — their first new face in the wide receiver room this spring — is not a true deep threat in the conventional sense, but Mecole Hardman certainly has plenty of speed to stretch defenses. But after looking into his game and how he has been used in the past, it appears that the former Georgia Bulldog is much more likely to stretch the field horizontally than vertically.
After the Kansas City Chiefs drafted Hardman in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft, he had a reasonable average depth of target for his first two seasons. Both of those years he was used as a downfield receiver as well as a gadget player, and his targets averaged at least 10 yards past the line of scrimmage. But starting in 2021, that number dropped off considerably, in to the 7-8 range for two seasons and then down below six in 2023. Last season, Hardman’s 14 targets were, on average, a yard behind the line of scrimmage, showing that he was almost exclusively a gadget player.
At this point, jet sweeps and pop passes might be his offensive role in Green Bay. But Hardman’s returning acumen — over 9 yards per punt return for his career — should make him a good bet to take over those duties from Jayden Reed as well. The questions that his addition poses are more about what role Reed will play moving forward rather than what Hardman is likely to contribute.
Let’s look at the new addition to see why he appears to be a bit of a redundant player on this team.
How WR Mecole Hardman fits Packers on offense and special teams - The Athletic ($)
Hardman is 27 years old and has blazing speed, but he has never been a steady, consistent producer on offense. He's probably going to be a bigger contributor in the return game than on offense, however.
New Packers WR Mecole Hardman could be Tyler Ervin 2.0 | Packers Wire
Still, LaFleur loved having Ervin in the gadget role, and those types of plays have gone to Jayden Reed the last two years, with varying levels of success. Hardman is faster than Reed, who could be in line for a bit of a different role in 2025.
5 things to know about new Packers G Aaron Banks | Packers.com
Meanwhile, Banks is the Packers' highest-priced acquisition this year, and he has been very good at avoiding penalties -- he has been flagged for holding just five times in three years as a starter.
Packers Select Combine’s Fastest Player in Daniel Jeremiah’s NFL Mock Draft | SI.com
With a new face in the cornerback room (Nate Hobbs) and questions continuing to swirl around Jaire Alexander, this mock has the Packers going back to Kentucky for a corner and taking Maxwell Hairston, who ran the 40 in 4.28 seconds last month.
New cancer cure 'disguises' tumors as pork to trigger immune attack | Interesting Engineering
This is a fascinating idea and it shows some impressive early results. I can confirm that my body breaks down pork very well, but the pork is usually only present in my GI tract.