Stampede Blue
Chris Ballard’s first trade deadline move in his 9 years as the Indianapolis Colts General Manager is certainly a big one. On Tuesday just under 3 and a half hours left of the trade deadline, Ballard made a splash move the size of a blue whale plummeting from the International Space Station.
The Colts landed Sauce Gardner, 2 time All Pro Cornerback from the New York Jets, and widely considered one of the best Corners of the 2020s so far. To land such a player however required a steep cost.
Scrap your 2026 and 2027 Mock Drafts, as the Colts won’t be picking in Round 1 until 2028 (barring a future trade)! The Colts also traded away AD Mitchell, their 2024 Round 2 pick and Wide Receiver 4 on the depth chart prior to losing snaps to Ashton Dulin and Anthony Gould in recent weeks following his infamously rough performance against the Rams. Moving AD Mitchell could point to the Colts prioritizing re-signing top vertical threat Alec Pierce before he hits the market in the 2026 offseason.
Gardner won’t cost the Colts much in cap space after being traded for the rest of the 2025 season and will be a value in 2026 for a top Corner, but that will quickly change once his extension truly begins in 2027.
But what does Sauce Gardner bring to the Colts?
A physical man coverage corner who can shadow top Wide Receivers, dominate at the catch point to contest throws, and a smooth backpedal with strong football IQ to read and react decisively and disguise his coverages in Zone. All while providing reliable tackling (2 misses in 2025, just 9.5% of attempts) and strong run defense to boot. There was a reason the Jets invested the 4th Overall pick on Gardner in 2022, and the former Cincinnati Bearcat has more than outplayed his high draft slot in his career already.
Gardner’s stats in his 3.5 year career are truly astonishing:
The cherry on top of getting an elite tier, well rounded, Shutdown Cornerback 1 with an affordable contract in the short term (and fully extended for long term)? Sauce Gardner is only 25 years old. The Colts have secured a premium player entering the prime of his career.
Adding Gardner to a Colts Cornerback room decimated by injury is a monumental boost to the Colts contending prospects, though further reinforcements are on the way. Jaylon Jones made a good season debut off of a hamstring injury in Week 9, and top Corner Charvarius Ward could return off of IR as soon as Week 12 after the Bye week to face the Kansas City Chiefs.
Suddenly a Colts cornerback room that was down to its...
