After four years with the Jets, star cornerback Sauce Gardner is reportedly headed elsewhere.
New York is trading Gardner to the Colts for the latter team's next two first-round picks and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell, according to a Tuesday morning report from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. The stunning deal, if confirmed, would send Gardner west just under four months after he inked a four-year extension with the Jets worth $120 million; Gardner's new team will pay him $131.5 million for 5.5 years of services.
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As for the Colts, the deal would give them another chess piece in their bid for the AFC's top seed. Indianapolis is 7-2 and ranks seventh in the NFL in scoring defense; the Colts will match their win total from 2024 with one more victory.
"Having the opportunity to acquire a talented player like Sauce Gardner was one we did not want to pass on," Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard said in a statement.
New York drafted Gardner fourth in the 2022 draft after he made the All-America team at Cincinnati in 2021. He immediately established himself as one of the NFL's best defensive backs, making back-to-back All-Pro teams to begin his career before injury slowed him in 2024.
The Jets are currently 1-7, last in the AFC East.
