Jets CB Sauce Gardner rips former All-Pro for criticisms
Displeased following the release of this year's All-Pro selections, former NFL defensive back and two-time Super Bowl champion Asante Samuel criticized Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner's inclusion on the list, prompting a fiery response from the second-year corner.
Samuel lit the fire, calling out Gardner without naming him, saying a DB without an interception should be out of consideration for the honor. Unsurprisingly, this led to a fun little back-and-forth.
First, Gardner responded by telling Samuel he was acting like a hate-filled "oldhead" while taking him to task for failing to support his generation as a respected former player.
Then, Samuel tried to deflect the harsh retort and act like he didn't care about the talented second-year player's opinion. However, Gardner was having none of it, exposing the four-time Pro Bowler's history of "sub-tweeting" him whenever the Jets star received an award or distinction.
Finally, Gardner finished Samuel off by rejecting his offer to "talk DB [trash]" before saying he'd rather discuss the game with former Jet and Pro Football Hall of Famer Darrelle Revis.
Numbers don't always tell the entire story, which is the case for Gardner. Despite failing to record an interception in 2023, he was arguably one of the best cornerbacks in the entire NFL. If anything, his lack of interceptions shows his immense value, proving that, most of the time, quarterbacks try to avoid throwing in his direction altogether.
It's not terribly difficult to see where Samuel is coming from, even if he's going about it the wrong way. A dangerous ballhawk in his playing days, Samuel made quarterbacks pay for testing him, coming away with 51 interceptions (32nd all-time) while averaging nearly five picks per season over the course of an 11-year career. However, he probably wouldn't have received the accolades he did without those numbers, unlike Gardner, who has only two picks to his name over 33 career games.
Conversely, Gardner was right to defend himself and did so quite well. If there were a scorecard in this social media battle (there isn't), it would favor the Jets' rising star by a landslide.
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