Getty New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner catching a pass ahead of an NFL game.
Let the free-agent recruiting commence for the New York Jets.
Sauce Gardner answered a fan question posed on X previously Twitter about which free agents the team should sign this offseason. He responded, “Calvin Ridley & Tee [Higgins].”
Jets and Gardner Are on the Same Page Heading Into 2024
In a column posted on Sunday, January 21, Rich Cimini of ESPN said, “The Jets are hoping to make a significant addition at receiver through trade, free agency or the draft.”
Higgins or Ridley would certainly check off the box for “significant addition” if the Jets added either this offseason.
Both players are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents this offseason.
Ridley, 29, just completed his fifth professional season. He missed the 2022 campaign due to suspension because he bet on NFL games.
Higgins, 25, just completed his fourth professional season. The former Clemson product reached the open market sooner than Ridley because he was a second-round draft choice. Any draft selection after the first round doesn’t have a fifth-year team option on their contracts.
If the Jets were forced to pick one over the other they would have several things to weigh. Higgins is significantly younger than Ridley but far less proven.
Ridley’s best campaign included 90 receptions for 1,374 receiving yards and nine touchdown receptions. Higgins has never come close to approaching those numbers in any of his four seasons in the pros.
Sauce’s Recruiting Tricks Have Worked in the Past for the Jets
Former NFL general manager Randy Mueller told me on “The Boy Green Show” that he would use any help that the players could give him on the recruiting front.
It appears general manager Joe Douglas will have plenty of volunteers this offseason. Aaron Rodgers said both on “The Pat McAfee Show” and at his season-ending presser that he would offer up his services.
Gardner is the most recent Jets player who has dipped his toes into the free-agent waters. However, this isn’t the first time Garder has tried to help.
Last offseason Gardner did everything in his power to recruit new talent to the team. Whether that was at the Pro Bowl, on social media, or even on his brand-new YouTube channel.
Gardner invited over his Jets teammates Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson to his house to burn the cheesehead he got from the Jets-Packers game in 2022.
It was a ritual cheddar sacrifice to hopefully lure Rodgers from Green Bay to New York. The plan worked like a charm and a few months later the former four-time NFL MVP was traded in a blockbuster deal.
Now Sauce will look to work his magic again but this time on the open market. Sauce’s venture last season was a bit more difficult considering all of the moving pieces involved in a trade.
In theory, all the Jets would need to acquire Ridley or Higgins is a bag of money this offseason. The only thing that could royally screw up that plan is the threat of the franchise tag. That could prevent one or both players from reaching free agency.