Last night DK Metcalf was extraordinarily beast in his play helping the Seahawks to a thrilling win over the Eagles. Over the past several years we've watched Metcalf do phenomenal things for the Seahawks as one of the top receiving talents in the league. And sure enough, every time I see him do well I do think, as many in the Kingdom do I'm sure:
"The Chiefs could have drafted him when he dropped like a rock in the draft. He was right there for the taking. Instead we drafted...
"Mecole Hardman."
Let's just get this out of the way right now. A team with Mahomes and Metcalf would truly be a juggernaut. It would be wonderful if that whole thing turned out that way, we all know, it would. Ahhh...
But there are a number of things to note about all this, and why I'm putting up this post.
1. I firmly believe the reason the Chiefs selected Hardman instead of Metcalf was, if you remember, at the time there was widely published concern about Tyreek Hill and some domestic violence issues. It turned out to be nothing, but right at that time it was so much in the public purview that the Chiefs were afraid it would all turn against Hill and his future with the Chiefs. So they went after Hardman and his speed as a sort-of backstop option just in case.
Was all that stuff about Tyreek just more folderol from the NFL to derail Chiefs success? I wouldn't put it past them. I don't think they could have deliberately done it to affect this particular draft result, but the Hill stuff being so negative and so broadly blapped into the mainstream I do believe did keep the Chiefs from getting Metcalf and going with Hardman instead.
Could it have been the case that they shied away from Metcalf because of his reputation, that maybe he'd be a less-than-positive influence on the team? Maybe that too. He's had his troubles in Seattle, but they really haven't been so bad that he hasn't performed at a really high level when he wants to. What do you do with that?
2. I really don't believe you can say "What if" too much with the draft results. Anybody can do that with any player drafted before or after some other player. It is "Monday morning quarterbacking" on steroids -- or really: "Friday morning end-of-April general managing." How many times do we have to hear about the 198 opportunities a team had to draft Tom Brady? It gets annoying after a while, and yes, not only can you do that with anyone in pro football, but we all still do it, all the time.
Yes, I confess, I still do it with DK Metcalf. I do, I shouldn't, but I do. I can't help it. But then, what if the Chiefs did have Metcalf and we'd already had four consecutive undefeated Super Bowl seasons? That's nice for us, but bad for the NFL. And this is one of those very twisted things about having a favorite sports team to obsess over. They must lose every once in a while or it'd be boring. People already hate the Chiefs for having Mahomes and being as successful as we've been. We'd be downright abandoned by everyone if we won too much -- hey, I'm already convinced the NFL is doing its damnedest to impede our success in all kinds of other ways. Again, that ref call at the end of the Buffalo game? Absolutely inexcusable.
3. How many rings does DK Metcalf have? And how many rings does Mecole Hardman have? Lessee...
See, this is the key thing that softens the blow of a distinct absence of Metcalf in a Chiefs uniform. And really, it softens it a lot not so much as the rings as the fact that, as much as you may hate Hardman for not being Metcalf, the guy has actually performed for us.
And not only that, but he's been notably instrumental in helping us win games leading to Super Bowls. Notably so. The key things I can think of right now are his game-changing kick returns in both the final game of the 2019 season leading to getting the bye that year, and the playoff game just a couple weeks later that changed the tenor of a game we were losing 24-0.
He's also been the best jet-sweep runner in the league, really, and while much of that is the coaching and execution by the blockers, you can't deny that they guy gets to that edge and finds a way to streak past everybody to get clutch yardage. Last year in particular he almost single-handedly used this skill to annihilate the very good 49ers, I mean we blasted them, with Hardman scoring three touchdowns largely on his ability to do this very thing.
So yeah, I am just as human as anyone in the Chiefs Kingdom. I don't think anyone looks at the fantastic ability of a DK Metcalf and wonder, "What if?"
But keep in mind that we are tremendously blessed in so many ways. We have Patrick Mahomes -- really, those fans of the teams with the nine picks before he was taken in 2017, how much are they still pulling their hair out? We have Brett Veach, who does get it right most times, in fact far more than any other GM, he really does. Scream at him all you want about his inability to get this guy or that guy, but face it, you want to go with someone else in the front office? Really? Take some time to look at the draft history of pretty much every other team and you'll start to really appreciate what we have.
So in that sense, let's genuinely hope Mecole Hardman returns and can play at the level we know he can. With a largely ineffective Skyy Moore now done for the season, that may be in the works.
And that should be a very good thing for the Chiefs Kingdom.
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The photo of Hardman is from the Fox 4 news website. Thank you.
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