- Jets tight end Kenny Yeboah accused Hardman of leaking the team’s game plan
- New York defeated Philadelphia by 6 points in a regular season game on October 15.
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Stephen A. Smith has advised Mecole Hardman to take legal action if allegations that he leaked his former team’s game plan to the Eagles before a regular-season game turn out to be false.
In providing his own opinion on allegations that the Chiefs wide receiver exposed New York’s playbook to some of his former Georgia teammates now playing for the Eagles before the Jets host the Eagles on October 15 of last year, Smith said Hardman should come out. Please clear up the game leak rumors as soon as possible.
“Let me tell you something right now,” the sportswriter said at first. ‘If you’re Mecole Hardman… that’s cause for a lawsuit. Oh really. If (the claims) are false…that’s the end of his career.
‘What locker room could I enter if someone believes it’s true?! If evidence came out that this was even remotely true… what locker room would I be able to walk into?!
‘No… he has to speak today and if the Jets are wrong, you should consider legal action. Seriously, because there’s nothing worse than that… is there anything worse than this as an accusation?’
Stephen A. Smith implored Mecole Hardman to clarify game leak rumors on Friday
Hardman said he “never had any conversations with KC before the trade” and that the Jets “did the right thing by sending me back,” referring to his change of team in October.
Hardman, who was traded to the Chiefs in October after signing with the Jets in March, caught the winning touchdown in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII, sealing Kansas City’s 25-22 victory against the 49ers and earning his third ring. He previously spent four years with the Chiefs, from 2019 to 2022.
Jets tight end Kenny Yeboah is the player fueling claims that Hardman leaked his team’s game plans against Philadelphia.
The Jets ended up defeating the Eagles by 6, when Hardman was still with ‘Gang Green’, five months ago.
Amid all the reports about Hardman, Jets general manager Joe Douglas said the team took notice when the Super Bowl star said on a podcast that he told the Kansas City Chiefs to “come get me ” while disgruntled in New York earlier this season.
“I’ll just say those comments definitely resonated with us,” Douglas told reporters Wednesday at the NFL combine.
Hardman had just one reception for 6 yards in five games with the Jets. He was critical of the team during an interview on ‘The Pivot’ podcast hosted by former NFL star and safety and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark.
Jets tight end Kenny Yeboah accused Hardman of leaking the team’s game plans to Eagles players the receiver used to play with in Georgia.
Hardman caught the Super Bowl-winning pass for the Chiefs against the 49ers last month.
Before New York’s game against Kansas City in Week 4, Hardman says he was “so taken aback, like it was all over.” He added that he had already spoken with Chiefs general manager Brett Veach and quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“Like, ‘come get me,'” Hardman said he told them.
It was not immediately certain whether the Jets would file possible tampering charges with the NFL against the Chiefs.
On Tuesday night, Hardman attempted to clarify his comments on X, formerly known as Twitter.
‘I never had conversations with KC before the trade, so can we CLARIFY THAT!’ Hardman wrote. ‘The Jets handled my trade on their own and did the right thing by sending me back to KC!’
“Ultimately, we made the decision to leave Mecole, but in our process of adding Mecole, he was excited to be here and it just didn’t work out,” Douglas said. “And a lot of that has to do with Xavier (Gipson).”
