Getty New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner reacting after an NFL game.
By all accounts, Sauce Gardner is having another good season for the New York Jets in 2023.
However, there is one thing missing from his resume. The former Cincinnati product still doesn’t have an interception through the first 14 games of the year.
Head coach Robert Saleh was asked on Friday, December 15 whether he is surprised by that statistical nugget.
“They are coming,” Saleh confidently said.
“Oh my God we were just talking about that the other day. I was trying to rub on his hands like I played tight end, not that I could catch but maybe it’ll help him. He has had his opportunities,” Saleh explained. “Like I’ve told him, they come in bunches. As soon as he gets one, it’s going to start to flow.”
#Jets HC Robert Saleh was asked if it’s surprising that Sauce Gardner doesn’t have an interception yet this season:
‘Oh my God we were talking about that the other day. I was trying to rub on his hands like I played tight end not that I could catch but maybe it’ll help him.’ 🤣…
Gardner has gone 19 straight games without recording an interception.
Gardner Is Having an Incredible Sophomore Campaign With the Jets
Gardner, 23, doesn’t seem to be experiencing the annual sophomore slump that we often see from second-year players.
In his rookie campaign, Gardner checked everything off of his bucket list. He wanted to go to the Pro Bowl, he wanted first-team All-Pro, and he wanted to win Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Gardner accomplished all of that and more. He appeared in all 17 games, recorded two picks, and registered an incredible 20 pass deflections.
This year he hasn’t recorded the picks, but he looks just as dominant if not more so.
Gardner has the third-highest coverage grade this season of any cornerback (89.9). He also places fifth best at his position in overall defensive grade (84.3).
“It was a blessing to make it last year [to the Pro Bowl], but I’m at the point where shoot if I can I want to make it every single year. I want to make every single year better than the last,” Gardner explained to the media on Friday, December 15.
“Year two, I’m having a good year right now. Year three, I want it to be even better, and I just want that to be the trend. I want to always be trending upward because I’m kind of like a perfectionist.”
“I want every year to be better than the last.”
Beyond the accolade of the Pro Bowl, Gardner has some big-time money riding on this all-star event.
Rich Cimini of ESPN explained that “a player’s fifth-year option becomes the franchise-tag value if he makes two Pro Bowls in his first three seasons. If Gardner does it again, his fifth-year option (2026) will increase by approximately $3.5 million, per Over the Cap.”
Sauce Might Have an Easier Day in the Jets vs. Dolphins Game
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport shared on X previously Twitter that Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill “won’t practice” on Friday because of his ankle injury.
He is considered questionable for the game and Rapoport noted that “he hasn’t practiced all week.”
#Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel tells reporters that WR Tyreek Hill won’t practice today on his ankle injury and is considered questionable. He hasn’t practiced all week.
That doesn’t mean Hill won’t necessarily play in the game, but that certainly isn’t a good sign that he will be available.
In the first matchup back on Friday, November 24 Hill finished with nine receptions for 102 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Saleh said he fully is preparing like Hill will play in the game, but if he doesn’t that’ll be a major loss for Miami heading into the contest.
Hill leads the NFL in receiving yardage with 1,542. That is 284 more receiving yards than the next guy on the list (AJ Brown of the Philadelphia Eagles).