You can always count on Sauce Gardner to spice up a bland news day in New York Jets land.
Jets fans on X were engaging in spirited discussions about their favorite team’s two-time first-team All-Pro cornerback. As he often does, Gardner decided to chime in, saying that he “doesn’t like keeping secrets” before revealing one of them to the fanbase.
“That’s why I don’t hesitate to say I wanna be a Jet long term,” wrote Gardner.
As NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah pointed out on Monday, we are entering a period of the NFL calendar where “a flurry of extensions” could begin pouring in. This is the time of the year when extension talks begin taking place, and on top of that, the 2025 free agency class is not ripe with superstars who teams will break the bank for.
Jeremiah says he will be “shocked” if a large number of contract extensions are signed over the next “7-10 days.” That takes us through March 6, which is four days ahead of the opening of the legal tampering window (March 10).
Will Gardner and the Jets partake in the action?
Gardner’s body of work is the stuff teams dream of when they select a prospect in the top five. He has racked up two first-team All-Pro appearances in three seasons, and over the course of his career, he has allowed the fewest yards per coverage snap among cornerbacks. The gap between Gardner and second place is about the same as the gap between second place and 13th.
Fewest yards per cover snap allowed among CB, 2022-24 (among 70 qualifiers with min. 1,000 coverage snaps, per PFF)
- Sauce Gardner (0.585)
- Jaylon Johnson (0.719)
- Patrick Surtain II (0.720)
- Trent McDuffie (0.762)
- Christian Benford (0.765)
- Tariq Woolen (0.770)
- Jaycee Horn (0.773)
- Marlon Humphrey (0.806)
- D.J. Reed (0.807)
- A.J. Terrell (0.813)
- L’Jarius Sneed (0.814)
- Devon Witherspoon (0.838)
- Cobie Durant (0.849)
- Derek Stingley Jr. (0.861)
- Darius Slay (0.862)
In terms of guaranteed money, the largest contract among cornerbacks belongs to Denver’s Patrick Surtain II, who signed a four-year, $96 million deal with a record-setting $77.5 million guaranteed. Like Gardner right now, Surtain signed his deal ahead of his fourth NFL season. However, Surtain and the Broncos did not reach an agreement until September 4, 2024, just four days ahead of the team’s season opener.
While Gardner has two All-Pro appearances to his name, Surtain only had one prior to signing his extension, which means Gardner has the leverage to negotiate that he deserves to beat Surtain’s deal. However, Gardner’s 2024 season will make negotiations a little more complex.
Despite the unmatched quality of his full body of work, Gardner is coming off his worst season by a country mile, setting career-worst marks in penalties (10), missed tackle rate (17.5%), and passes defended (9). Gardner was still a very solid cornerback in coverage, yielding just one touchdown and 0.797 yards per cover snap; his down year would be another cornerback’s career year. Still, he landed well below the league-best bar that he set for himself over his first two seasons. It remains to be seen whether that will cause some hesitancy on the Jets’ part.
If the Surtain negotiations are any indication, we should not expect Gardner’s most recent season to outweigh his full body of work. Surtain was also coming off his worst season when he signed his extension. In 2023, Surtain set career worsts in yards allowed (701), passer rating allowed (93.9), penalties (6), and PFF’s coverage grade (64.7). Yet, the Broncos paid him for his full body of work. Surtain responded with a massive bounce-back year, winning Defensive Player of the Year
Based on Sauce’s latest tweet, he wants to be a Jet for the long haul, and it would be surprising if New York did not oblige.