{"id":319759,"date":"2025-08-26T19:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/319759\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T19:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:30:10","slug":"packers-to-release-wr-mecole-hardman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/319759\/","title":{"rendered":"Packers To Release WR Mecole Hardman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mecole Hardman<\/a>\u00a0will not begin the season on Green Bay\u2019s roster. The veteran receiver\/returner is being released, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Even with Christian Watson<\/a> set for the reserve\/PUP list, Green Bay had assembled a deep group of wide receivers after using first- and third-round picks to address the position. This left Hardman in an uncertain spot, and the former Super Bowl hero will be jettisoned months after signing with the Packers.<\/p>\n

Hardman has been unable to stick anywhere but Kansas City. The Jets cut bait on their free agency deal months after authorizing it, sending Hardman back to the Chiefs in a pick-swap deal. That set up Hardman to play a key role down the stretch with Kansas City, and he memorably snagged Patrick Mahomes<\/a>\u2018 game-winning offering to secure the Chiefs a second straight Super Bowl title. But minimal free agency interest followed, leading Hardman to a one-year, $1.13MM Chiefs deal in 2024.<\/p>\n

The Packers gave Hardman a one-year, $1.5MM deal that included $150K guaranteed. Green Bay will only be responsible for that $150K in dead money via this release. Hardman, 27, will head straight to free agency. It is possible Hardman could stay in Green Bay on a practice squad deal, but that remains to be seen. The Packers have a crowded depth chart at WR \u2013 to the point Bo Melton<\/a> switched positions (to cornerback).<\/p>\n

The team returns Jayden Reed<\/a>, Romeo Doubs<\/a> and Dontayvion Wicks<\/a>. Rookies Matthew Golden<\/a> and Savion Williams<\/a> supplemented that duo in the draft, giving the Pack an array of options while Watson recovers from a Week 18 ACL tear. Watson is expected to be activated around midseason.<\/p>\n

Hardman\u2019s best path to a Packers role came in the return game, as the former second-round pick has an All-Pro honor (as a kick returner) on his resume. For the most part, however, Hardman\u2019s return-game work has come on punts. He would remain an intriguing option in that capacity, at the very least, upon returning to free agency.<\/p>\n

Adam La Rose contributed to this post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mecole Hardman\u00a0will not begin the season on Green Bay\u2019s roster. The veteran receiver\/returner is being released, NFL insider…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[7,41,345,2514,2513,451,6,428,3571],"class_list":{"0":"post-319759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-bay-packers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-green-bay","10":"tag-green-bay-packers","11":"tag-greenbay","12":"tag-greenbaypackers","13":"tag-mecole-hardman","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-packers","16":"tag-transactions"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115096730182007364","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}