The Kansas City Chiefs have placed WR Mecole Hardman on injured reserve. He’ll be required to miss a minimum of four games before he’s able to be designated to return, meaning the earliest he can be back is in Week 15 against the Houston Texans. Hardman will miss games against the Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, Cincinnati Bengals and Denver Broncos.
Hardman has been dealing with an abdominal injury/illness that kept him out of the team’s Week 10 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Reserve lists are not retroactive, meaning he won’t get any sort of credit for missing that game.
We have placed WR Mecole Hardman on Reserve/Injured. pic.twitter.com/OPzso2scX6
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) November 17, 2022
Andy Reid described Hardman’s issue as an “illness to his abdomen” on Wednesday during his press conference.
“As far as the injuries go, Mecole (Hardman) has an illness to his abdomen,” Reid said. “He’s getting better, but he’s not back yet.”
Given Reid’s comments on Hardman improving, this decision was likely made to give Hardman adequate time to heal and likely some extra time. This roster move comes on the same day that Frank Clark’s roster exemption expires, so the team still has 53 players on the active roster.
Thankfully, the Chiefs’ trade to acquire Kadarius Toney has been a smashing success. Toney has already assumed some of Hardman’s role during his absence last week. We can only expect that this will intensify in the coming weeks with Hardman now on injured reserve.
