With each player who is able to return to the Kansas City Chiefs' active roster from injury, the team gets that much stronger and deeper. That said, it also comes with a series of questions for each entrant as to how to handle things upon their return.
Like a spouse returning from a long absence to the home from work or a child coming back from college for the summer, the unit has learned to function in the absence of a person or player. For the Chiefs, that often means seeing what young players can develop into in the wake of a major injury.
The Chiefs announced they were designating wide receiver Mecole Hardman to return last week as their scheduled kickoff against the Denver Broncos loomed in Week 18. Hardman underwent successful knee surgery in December and hit the shelf for four games on injured reserve for K.C. down the stretch. He now has a 21-day window in which he can return to practice for the team to see how he looks.
The last two seasons have established Hardman as a rarely-used offensive weapon with less than 300 yards from scrimmage combined since 2022. But his value has held true as a returner for K.C. and he's proven even more valuable in the postseason—an obvious boost when playing for a team that's essentially coasting to the playoffs on an annual basis.
This season, Hardman has 20 punt returns for 203 total yards and his average is just his second season in his career with over 10 yards/return. And while it's a small sample size, Hardman has averaged a healthy 26.4 yards/return on five kickoffs as well.
But the Chiefs also have an impressive young player in Nikko Remigio who has taken over for Hardman in those areas during his time on IR. Remigio has averaged 9.5 yards/punt return and has handled double the amount of kickoff returns for the Chiefs with an even greater average (26.8). Even more, Remigio had some impressive work within a vanilla offensive plan in Week 18's loss to Denver.
As a former undrafted free agent out of Fresno State, Remigio has multiple cost-controlled seasons ahead—if the Chiefs want to employ him—for monetary amounts that wouldn't affect the cap at all. That said, Hardman is not going to break the bank for any team and should come at a league vet minimum for any team in the future. As for age, Remigio just turned 25, as compared to Hardman who is nearly two years older (will be 27 in March).
It's possible the Chiefs find room in the next few games for both players in some way but that feels redundant. Hardman's experience will likely win out (and that feels right) but Remigio looks good in his place and if the Chiefs wanted to test his mettle in bigger games, this could be his time.
