Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner fired back at former Jets receiver Mecole Hardman on Tuesday.
Gardner said Hardman “never earned his stripes” with the team, during an appearance on “The Pivot,” a podcast hosted by former NFL player Ryan Clark.
This comes two weeks after Hardman appeared on “The Pivot” and criticized the Jets’ culture, particularly on offense.
Gardner did not appreciate what Hardman had to say.
He also said Hardman did not perform well in practice catching punts and was called out by coaches in meetings.
“If you really know what it takes to win,” Gardner said, “you’re going [to] make sure you let the team know. … The reason he couldn’t do that is because he never earned his stripes. He came to the facility and thought he had it made for him.
“If you know what it takes to win, you’re not going to go to practice and drop hella punts and then have excuses as to why you’re dropping them. You’re not going to go into a special teams meeting and get cussed out by the special teams coordinator. There’s just certain things that are not going to happen if you truly know what it takes to win.”
Hardman said that he was so unhappy with the Jets that he asked Chiefs general manager Brett Veach and quarterback Patrick Mahomes to “come get me” during the season.
Hardman played for the Chiefs from 2019-22 before signing as a free agent with the Jets last season.
The Jets traded him back to the Chiefs in October and Hardman went on to win the Super Bowl, catching the game-winning touchdown in overtime.
Gardner said he was happy for Hardman that he won the Super Bowl and made the big catch. But he thought Hardman should be grateful to the Jets for sending him back to the Chiefs.
“You can’t really discredit the Jets, especially him individually,” he said. “They sent you back to a contender team. They sent you back to the Chiefs, and you won the Super Bowl. I feel like that’s ungrateful. I feel like he shouldn’t have gone on there, talking about the Jets, because he could’ve just taken the high road. You just won the Super Bowl, and you had the game-winning catch.”
After Hardman’s harsh words, Gardner posted something on X insinuating that Hardman had leaked the Jets’ game plan to the Eagles before they played in October. He later deleted the post.
Gardner did not address that allegation during the podcast.