Exactly. Watkins is likely gone after this year. We need to keep young reliable weapons around Mahomes. We can’t take the risk of wasting a Mahomes’s career on a team with no weapons.

I was thinking Antonio Brown. They’re about the exact same size.

Reminds me a lot of Antonio Brown

Yeah they were drafting a WR at some point in the draft of course. You really think they set out to draft one with their first pick before the tyreek shit came out?

Yes. There were rumors before anything even happened with Tyreek, even before the the start of the league year, that we were looking to add more weapons.

Like I just said, I'm sure we were going to get another WR at some point but I bet they were aiming for defense with that first pick if not for the Tyreek Hill thing. That expedited the need. And now, because Tyreek didn't get suspended or worse, Hardman is a luxury player and an insurance plan if/when someone gets injured. But no I don't believe they set out to draft a WR with their first pick in the draft.

But the implication was we were looking to add one with an early pick or a top FA/trade target.

I have given the Brandin Cooks comparison. Do people think they can find a better comparison?

If the idea was to replace or cover for Hill's absence, we wouldn't have done it through the draft. That's just not how Reid operates. So I have never thought that Hardman's selection was anything more than them taking the best player on their board. If he's replacing anyone, it's Watkins sometime down the road.

And his performance so far, which is surprising considering Reid's history of not even giving rookies on offense the opportunity to contribute, has totally justified that pick. I never thought they'd give him the chance to be the 3rd wide out this soon, and while he needs to work on beating press (like virtually all young WRs...) he just looks straight-up dangerous so far. He might (or might not) still be technically behind Robinson on the depth chart when the season starts, but I think he's going to become a pretty key player fairly quickly this year.

Yes, he was the top player remaining on their board. I think they were surprised he was still available, so they moved up.

I don’t think it’s far-fetched to think Veach was considering WR with our first pick regardless of the Hill situation. Hill has been pretty healthy, as has Kelce. Watkins is less reliable in that area. The Pats were able to keep us down just long enough to win by doubling Hill. Kelce and Watkins weren’t quite enough to win that game. With Hardman in the mix we could create new matchup issues for teams that try the Pats strategy of doubling Hill.

What about Marvin Harrison?

Both around the exact same size. Harrison ran a 4.38 40 and Hardman ran a 4.33 40. Very similar builds.

Our early struggles in that game were mainly related to Pat being off, not because of the WRs struggling.

Tyreeks thing came right before the draft and after free agency had already died down. There was no other option to add a good WR.

I'm just saying that saying they drafted Hardman with the first pick because of the uncertainty of the Tyreek situation isn't close to a hot take.

I don't get the Marvin comparison.

Hardmen plays a bigger than he looks, Harrison looked smaller
Hardman is physical, Harrison was finesse.