So let't talk about Sauce Gardner, who was drafted with the hype of being the greatest DB that the NFL has ever seen. In forty career games, he has two interceptions. His last interception was two seasons ago. He is entering the last guaranteed year of his contract next season with a 10M+ Cap hit: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/player/_/id/76850/ahmad-gardner The Jets have a club option in year five. At this point, how could the Jets justify exercising that option for another 10M+ hit?
Bringing him back to $10 mil seems like a no brainer to me. He needs to spend some time in the weight room and work on his tackling but he is tall and rangy which has some QBs avoiding throwing balls his way. Overhyped for sure but a solid starter.
Everyone is rightfully frustrated. That said a lot of overreaction here. Put the pitchforks back in the barn He is one of three players to ever be first team all pro in his first two years joining LT and Micah Parsons. Also DROY. Also a good egg who has his head on straight.
I like Sauce a lot as a player and a person. Nice guy, and the analytics dont lie about his effectiveness as a pass defender. That said, we Jets fans had the pleasure of watching the arguably greatest CB of all time in Revis, and I would not put Sauce anywhere near that level of play. Not in man coverage, and not in the same stratosphere in physicality/tackling/run game.
We 100% bring him back but if we need to do a full rebuild, you HAVE to trade him for some draft capital. Or, tell him how it is...he is not gna be the highest paid CB. He is not Patrick Surtain. Sauce is a good player, that's it.10-14mm a year is fine for me.
The risk with Sauce adding weight is that he'd lose some coverage ability. Sauce is unusually tall for a good CB, he's only able retain quickness by being slim. If he adds weight, he will lose some coverage ability. It's just the reality when you're a 6'3 CB and trading coverage ability for tackling ability is not a good tradeoff. We just need to take the bad with the good with Sauce.
Deion Sanders- ATL, DAL, SF, BAL Darrelle Revis- NYJ, TB, NE Champ Bailey- DEN, WAS Charles Woodson- OAK, GB, OAK (again) Richard Sherman- SEA, SF, TB Jalen Ramsey- JAX, LAR, MIA CB’s don’t stay on one team because it’s senseless to pay a CB top tier money when the rest of the team sucks. If we are a competitive team when Sauce comes due, pay him. If not, trade him and use draft capital to rebuild the team.
Skinny, soft, never turns his head around and is a DPI waiting to happen on every play. The 2022 draft the Canton Joe was lauded for is not turning out to be so great after all.
Yea, but the NFL has his number now and he has not adjusted. He was always handsy and a bit overrated IMO, and that has been exposed.
meh they run everywhere lol it’s not a Sauce thing, I don’t think they are trying to go for the edges, when they can just attack up the middle where the Jets are light anyways.
You can't bring him back for another ten million; there is a formula to figure the price. overthecap.com/fifth-year-option-projections ...says Gardner will get $20,357,000 if the Jets take the option. (Wilson at $16,737,000 and Johnson at $14,812,000)
I think teams have targeted Sauce in a zone on key downs to convert (in 2023 they did it a lot) and it has been a glaring weakness. I think the team has tried to minimize it and I think he's making a lot more effort to tackle this season, but he is just not physically built to do a lot of it. I don't think it's something that will be improved, just worked around.
