Former Packers WR Surprisingly Gets Dumped by NFL Team

Former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Mecole Hardman is looking for a home again.

The Buffalo Bills released the veteran receiver and returner Saturday as they trimmed to 53 players, according to multiple reports.

For Packers fans, the news is less a surprise than a reminder of how quickly last year’s low-risk experiment in Green Bay ran its course.

Hardman signed a one-year deal with Green Bay in March 2025 after six seasons mostly spent with Kansas City, where he won three Super Bowls and scored the overtime winner in Super Bowl LVIII. The Packers added him as a gadget piece and special-teams option on a contract that carried only $150,000 guaranteed.

That structure said everything about the bet: cheap speed, little downside.

He never won the job. Hardman was released in Green Bay’s final cuts on Aug. 26, 2025, signed to the practice squad a day later, and let go from that unit on Sept. 23 without an elevation. In the preseason he caught three passes for 30 yards, added a 14-yard rush, and returned four punts for 20 yards with a fumble.

The Packers already had young receivers and other return candidates; Hardman did not separate.

Buffalo picked him up in November 2025. His Bills stay was brief and uneven: two regular-season games, a 61-yard kickoff return, a lost fumble on a punt, a calf injury, and later a playoff touchdown in a loss to Denver. He signed a reserve/futures deal in January and competed this summer as a depth receiver and punt-return option.

Buffalo chose roster spots elsewhere, with Ray Davis getting more return work. Hardman, 28, is a free agent again.

From a Packers angle, the cut does not reopen a roster hole so much as confirm last year’s evaluation. Green Bay wanted a veteran who could stretch a defense and field punts.

Hardman still has that 4.3 speed and playoff pedigree, but the production as a receiver has faded since his 693-yard season in 2021, and the ball security issues followed him from Titletown to Orchard Park.

Whether another team — or even Green Bay, if injuries hit the return game — circles back is an open question.

Hardman has bounced from the Chiefs to the Jets, back to Kansas City, to the Packers, then the Bills. The skill set is still useful in the right role.

The Packers already decided that role was not on their 53. Buffalo just reached the same conclusion.