Mecole Hardman drops the ball in Packers debut

USA Today

5 days ago

Veteran wide receiver and returner Mecole Hardman likely hurt his chances of making the Green Bay Packers roster after dropping the ball -- both figuratively and literally -- during his preseason debut on Saturday night.
Hardman, a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Kansas City Chiefs, made three critical errors and finished with zero catches and zero return yards during the 30-10 loss to the New York Jets.
The mistakes snowballed and directly hurt the Packers in the first half. On his first return, Hardman caught a punt in heavy traffic at the 5-yard line, pinning the Packers' second-team offense deep in its own territory. Two plays later, he dropped a pass on an out route near the sideline, setting up third-and-long and a strip-sack of Malik Willis that resulted in a Jets defensive touchdown. Later in the second quarter, Hardman tried to field a bouncing punt and muffed the catch, resulting in a turnover and three more points for the Jets.
"I have to go back and take a peek at it," coach Matt LaFleur said post-game. "It seems like a pretty routine play that happens more often than not where you can scoop that (bouncing) punt up. I was disappointed with that, but we also can't field a punt at the 5-yard line. Those were obviously two bad decisions."
Hardman's final stat line: one target, zero catches, two punt returns, zero yards.
"I was expecting a better bounce, and it bounced the wrong way and unfortunately it didn't go my way," Hardman said, via Packers.com. "There's nothing really too much to harp on. It's preseason. It's good to get it out of the way now. Could have just let it bounce and let it (the ball) do what it was going to do."
Hardman, who signed a one-year deal this offseason, is competing to be a backup receiver and the primary returner for LaFleur to start the 2025 season. Considering Jayden Reed (foot), Dontayvion Wicks (calf) and Christian Watson (ACL) are recovering from injuries, the Packers could use Hardman's experience at the receiver position. And the team likely doesn't want key starters like Reed and Keisean Nixon handling returns all season. Saturday night's debut wasn't a good start, but Hardman will have two joint practices and two preseason games over the next two weeks to rebound and state his case for a roster spot.