Mecole Hardman painted the Jets in an ugly light as the former Gang Green wide receiver and Super Bowl champion went scorched earth on the city’s AFC football team.
Hardman appeared on “The Pivot” podcast on Tuesday, where he discussed his time with the Jets and what went wrong before he was eventually traded to eventual Super Bowl-winning Chiefs in October.
The three-time champion — who caught the game-winning pass to lead the Chiefs to a 25-22 overtime win over the 49ers in the Super Bowl — didn’t hold back, criticizing the Jets’ offense for having “no standard” and saying that he “was so checked out” toward the end of his tenure in East Rutherford, N.J.
Hardman had signed a one-year deal with the Jets last offseason but was hardly utilized and recorded just one catch in five games before going back to Kansas City.
“It’s the lies and the way they handled me. I didn’t like it at all,” said Hardman as he explained why it didn’t work with the Jets. “You can’t do that to a player. A player that you paid at that. … I play one play, oh hell no. Something got to shake bro, like what we talking about bro.”
The 25-year-old said he felt that he was as good or better than the rest of the Jets receiver group, except for Garrett Wilson.
But some of his harshest comments came about the lack of standards with the team’s offense overall.
“You just got a new [offensive] coaching staff that came in and there’s no standard there. Everybody does what they want to do,” he said. “Granted, the defense has more of a stabilized standard with the coaching staff on that side, so the defense has a standard.
“But the offense is just like, ‘We’ll just figure it out. It’s Aaron’s show. Let Aaron do what Aaron does.’ Then when Aaron goes down, it’s like we don’t know what to do.”
Hardman joked toward the end of the interview that he wasn’t planning on going back to the Jets again, which elicited laughter from the other people on the podcast.
He also mentioned that by the end he couldn’t wait to get out off the team.
“I was so checked out, like, it was over with. I had already talked to [Chiefs general manager Brett Veach] and Pat [Mahomes], like, ‘Come get me,’ ” he said.
Hardman had 14 catches for 118 yards in five regular season appearances following the trade to Kansas City, and he had another five in the postseason, including the game-winning score against the 49ers.