It might be safe to say Sauce Gardner and Mecole Hardman won’t be exchanging Christmas cards anytime soon.
A few weeks ago, Gardner and tight end Kenny Yeboah suggested that the former disgruntled Jets wide receiver leaked gameplans for their games against the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, ironically two of the better games for the Jets in 2023, including a win over the Eagles in Week 6.
Gardner sat down with Ryan Clark on The Pivot Podcast and the two discussed Hardman’s comments.
“When I met Mecole … the first thing I thought is he talks a lot.”
“He never earned his stripes,” Gardner said, via Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic. “He came into the facility and just thought he had it made. If you know what it takes to win, you’re not going to go to practice and drop punts and then have excuses as to why you dropped them. You’re not going to go in a special teams meeting and get cussed out by a special teams coordinator. Certain things are not going to happen if you know what it takes to win.”
Gardner said he was ultimately happy Hardman was able to go back home to Kansas City and find success, which included winning another Super Bowl and being the one to catch the winning touchdown in overtime against the San Francisco 49ers. But in the end, when it comes to the Jets’ organization, “the standard is the standard” as Gardner put it.
We decided to address the elephant in the room with @iamSauceGardner right away. Mecole Hardman started his season with the jets before winning his 3rd Super Bowl with the @Chiefs. He had some harsh criticisms of the @nyjets organization, more specifically the offense.
Sauce is… pic.twitter.com/EA79j2TbMp
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) March 12, 2024
