Veteran NFL Scout Takes Shot at Jets CB Sauce Gardner

Sauce Gardner had one of the best rookie seasons in NFL history in 2022.

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN said Sauce has become “the most hyped cover man in Jets folklore since Darrelle Revis.”

On Tuesday, July 11 Fowler released his annual top 10 rankings at the cornerback position and Gardner was voted the No. 2 best corner heading into 2023.

However, not everyone is buying the hype.

“He’s going to be great, but No. 1 is a bit rich,” a veteran NFL scout said via ESPN. “He probably gets more hype because he plays in New York.”

Film Junkie Shoots Down New York Narrative Around Jets’ Sauce

“Apparently Sauce is only good because he is in New York which is a bunch of BS,” Joe Blewett of Jets X-Factor told me on “The Boy Green Show.”

Does it help that he plays in the biggest media market in the world? Obviously but the stats prove that Sauce clearly lives up to the hype.

“He tied for the league lead in pass breakups (20) and posted a 24.7% ball-hawk rate, the best among cornerbacks with at least 400 coverage snaps,” per Fowler of ESPN.

The 22-year-old who will turn 23 before the start of the 2023 season was incredibly consistent in his first season.

Gardner played and started in all 17 games in 2022. He recorded two interceptions, made 75 total tackles, and finished with an elite 90.0 coverage grade from PFF.

“On 81 targets as the nearest defender, he held quarterbacks to a 62.9 rating and 48.1% completions,” Fowler said.

Sauce Can Get Even Better for the Jets in 2023

Sauce earned a Pro Bowl nomination, was voted a first-team All-Pro in his very first season, and won the Defensive Rookie of the Year award. So what’s next?

I told Blewett during our conversation on “The Boy Green Show” on Monday, July 10 that I was a little nervous that we’d see some natural regression from Sauce in 2023 after a spectacular rookie campaign.

He respectfully shut that conversation down and explained why Sauce can get even better in his second campaign.

“I don’t really think there is going to be a natural regression because I actually think there are areas he can improve. I think Sauce is going to get better,” Blewett told me on the show. “It’s not like Sauce was impenetrable last year. There were some plays he almost got beat on. The play against the [Pittsburgh Steelers] where Diontae Johnson beat him on a post but he didn’t get his foot inbounds, he beat him on that. There were plays that Sauce got beat so it’s not like I saw somebody that did everything perfectly.

I think if Sauce starts to play with a little more consistent technique in off-coverage and if he starts to track the ball better deep. If Sauce can keep his feet under him, if he can play balls a little bit better deep, if he can track it a little bit better, I actually think he will take a step up, so I’m not really expecting a step back from him. I think he’ll be better than last year.”

Sauce had a historic campaign and was voted the No. 2 cornerback in football by a panel of scouts, coaches, players, and league executives.

The lowest ranking he received from that same panel was No. 6 best in the league. He nearly pushed Denver Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain for the top spot.

Fowler said Sauce earned just “one fewer top-three vote” than Surtain. The thought of Sauce being even better than 2023 is a scary thing for the rest of the NFL.