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Sauce Gardner burst onto the scene, making First-team All-Pro and winning Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2022 after the New York Jets drafted him with the fourth overall pick. Gardner followed up his auspicious debut with a strong sophomore season. But a forgettable 2024 campaign has the star corner looking to rebound. And new Jets defensive coordinator Steve Wilks is challenging the fourth-year pro to improve.
“I know I’m not perfect, but the fact that he’s trying to get perfection out of me is what I need,” Gardner said of Wilks, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini “I’ve had a lot of success, early success in the league… and the last thing I need is a new regime to come in here and just allow me to be complacent,” Gardner added.
“It’s great to just have those type of guys that are going to demand a lot out of me and just push me in ways that I’ve never been pushed before.”
Wilks is attempting to coax an elite season out of Gardner after the cornerback showed what he’s capable of over his first two years in the league. The Jets DC brings plenty of experience with him to the job as Wilks has been a coach in the NFL for 16 seasons, serving as defensive backs coach for 12 of those years.
Gardner will also benefit from the presence of new head coach Aaron Glenn, who logged eight seasons at cornerback for the Jets after the team selected him in the first round of the 1994 draft. Glenn then cut his teeth as a defensive backs coach with the Browns and the Saints before moving up the ladder.
The Jets are rebuilding after a massively disappointing 2024 season. The team ended the Aaron Rodgers era by replacing the GM, head coach, coordinators and quarterback. Justin Fields will be under center for New York in 2025 as Glenn attempts to change the organization’s culture, which reached peak dysfunction last season.
Gardner is entering his fourth season with the team. New York picked up the two-time Pro Bowler’s fifth-year option in April. But the Jets are looking to sign Gardner and WR Garrett Wilson to long term extensions. The duo were both first-round picks and won Defensive and Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2022.
Gardner could reset the cornerback market with a strong season. Derek Stingley Jr. became the highest-paid CB in the NFL after signing a three-year, $90 million extension with the Texans in March. Stingley was selected one pick before Gardner in the 2022 draft.
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