Seahawks Rookie Ends Debate on Sauce Gardner vs Tariq Woolen

The New York Jets struck gold when they spent a first-round draft pick on cornerback Sauce Gardner out of Cincinnati.

By the numbers, you could argue that Gardner has been the number one CB in the entire NFL during his first season — but another rookie is right on his heels. In all fairness, if the Jets struck gold than the Seattle Seahawks uncovered a diamond in round five when they selected Texas-San Antonio star Tariq Woolen.

Both have been superb in 2022, and Seahawks rookie and former Cincinnati teammate of Gardner, Coby Bryant, shared his unique perspective on the fan debate of who’s the better cornerback.

“They are two completely different players,” Bryant told reporters this week. “They are both unique in their own ways. Tariq is extremely fast, athletic, gifted, blessed, and the same thing goes for Ahmad as well. He’s blessed and talented, so there is no comparison… They actually talked at the combine [and] they’re actually pretty cool [with one another], so we can get that out of the air. There is no comparison between the two, they are both great players.”

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Sauce Gardner Trumps Tariq Woolen by the Numbers

Bryant may take the high road on this friendly comparison, but Gardner’s body of work has been stronger than Woolen. Having said that, it’s closer than it should be considering their respective draft status and hats off to the Seahawks fifth rounder in that regard.

Pro Football Focus outlines the story of each cornerback’s rookie campaign. We’ll start with Gardner (note that every ranking is based on a minimum 50% of defensive snaps played in 2022):

• 89.3 coverage grade ranks first in the NFL.
• 44.3% reception rate against ranks first in the NFL.
• 285 total yards allowed ranks second in the NFL.
• 10.6 yards allowed per reception ranks 21st in the NFL.
• 94 total yards allowed after the catch ranks fourth in the NFL.
• 16 forced incompletions ranks tied for second in the NFL.
• 26% forced incompletion rate ranks first in the NFL.
• 12 pass breakups ranks second in the NFL.
• Two interceptions ranks tied for 16th in the NFL.
• 50.2 passer rating against ranks second in the NFL.

Now let’s see how Woolen compares in each of these key cornerback metrics:

• 77.3 coverage grade ranks 10th in the NFL.
• 56.4% reception rate against ranks 15th in the NFL.
• 460 total yards allowed ranks 25th in the NFL.
• 14.8 yards allowed per reception ranks 57th in the NFL.
• 174 total yards allowed after the catch ranks 33rd in the NFL.
• 10 forced incompletions ranks tied for 18th in the NFL.
• 18% forced incompletion rate ranks tied for 6th in the NFL.
• Seven pass breakups ranks tied for 18th in the NFL.
• Six interceptions ranks first in the NFL.
• 74.6 passer rating against ranks 12th in the NFL.

Gardner also has much better run defense and tackling grades if you want to talk about who the more complete player is — and those analytics aren’t even close. To be fair, Woolen’s stats were more comparable to Gardner’s earlier in the year but they’ve dipped a bit here toward the end, while the Jets star has only gotten stronger.

Woolen does have the takeaways and the defensive touchdowns (five), but when you’re targeted as infrequently as Gardner is, it becomes hard to compete with others in areas like interceptions. The rest of the numbers tell the real story.

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Coby Bryant Praises Former Teammate, Sauce Gardner

Bryant did have a little more to say about his old teammate than the quote above.

“No, not this week but definitely periodically throughout the season,” the Seahawks rookie replied when asked if he’s spoken to Gardner this week.

“We ultimately have a great relationship,” Bryant continued, “so we always keep in touch as much as we can.”

“I expected greatness from [Gardner],” his college teammate praised later on, “obviously he’s going to keep working… I expected this and I’m extremely happy for him.”

Bryant did joke that he’s never called the Jets cornerback “Sauce,” stating that Gardner knows he’ll always refer to him as Ahmad. “I’ve never called him that and I won’t,” the fellow rookie said with a smirk.

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