Mecole Hardman’s 3-touchdown day in Chiefs win at 49ers included this rare feat by a WR

Patrick Mahomes has a theory on why Mecole Hardman is made for jet-sweeps.

“What makes Mecole so good at it is, obviously he’s super-fast, but he runs really hard,” Mahomes said. “A lot of times you get smaller receivers, and they want to get to the sideline, get yards and get out of bounds. Mecole gets his foot in the ground and gets upfield and trusts his blockers.

“You don’t see that with a lot of guys in this league, and it’s a special talent that he has.”

That skill produced a career-best three touchdowns for Hardman in the Chiefs’ 44-23 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

Hardman scored his first two regular-season rushing touchdowns and added his third TD on a flip-pass from Mahomes.

All of it originated from the same concept.

Before the snap, Hardman, lined up outside and went in motion toward the line. The ball is snapped just before he reaches the quarterback. That happened three times in Sunday’s game, and Hardman got into the end zone on all of occasions.

“It worked right today,” Hardman said. “The jet-sweeps were open. We took advantage, especially when we got to the goal line.”

Hardman capped the Chiefs’ first scoring drive with an 8-yard reception. His 25-yard scoring run down the right sideline in the second quarter, cleared by a Noah Gray block, gave the Chiefs a 14-13 lead.

The third touchdown, like his first, went left from 3 yards for a 35-23 lead in the fourth quarter.

“Mecole did a heck of a job going fast, being patient, then hitting it,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.

Hardman, drafted by the Chiefs in 2019, played the role of second speedster to Tyreek Hill in his first three years in Kansas City. He had never recorded more than one touchdown in a game before Sunday.

The unique two rushing/one receiving touchdown day also carried this note: It’s a feat that had not previously been accomplished by a wide receiver in the Super Bowl era, according to NFL Research.

On a day when the Chiefs filled up the stats sheet — 532 total yards, 423 passing yards — Hardman made the most of his three receptions and two rushes.

Three of those touches finished with him celebrating in the end zone.