Sauce Gardner wants Jets to pay him like he plays other positions and he has a Hall of Famer agreeing

"Because the Dog corners need stand up for themselves and what they bring to the table or sit down and watch what's happening happen! Yall need to Stand up Stand out and Believe in what u Possess,"

There are 11 edge rushers who will average more in annual salary on their current deals than Gardner's career-best $20.2 million next season, including Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett at a whopping $40 million. According to Over The Cap, there's nearly double that number of wide receivers exceeding $20.2 million on average, led by Ja'Marr Chase at $40.2 million and Justin Jefferson making $35 million.

To Gardner's point, only five cornerbacks average $20.2 million or more in annual salary and two of them, Derek Stingley and Jaycee Horn, just got those new deals this off season. Those are the two highest-paid at the position, followed by Jalen Ramsey.

To Sauce’s credit, he did not consider holding out this summer and has been a full participant during minicamp in an effort to show he wants to be a part of "changing the organization" ahead of the 2025 season. "My main focus is being the best football player I could be," Gardner said. "But my team and the Jets have been talking and I feel pretty good about how the talks have been going."

I believe that Sauce is a top three cornerback in the league and at times has played like he is the best. I believe when you have a player of that standing you don’t let them leave. So I do believe the Jets should pay him and keep him around. A lot of people will point to the “down year” he had last season and to them I would say two things. One, everyone had a down year once Saleh was fired, and the team was left leaderless. And two, if that is the worst season Sauce will have, I will take it 10 times out of 10.

That being said, my only concern is Sauce’s comparison to the premier edge rushers of the league. While I think cornerback is one of the premier positions in the league, the position has less of an opportunity to affect the game the way pass rushers do. If a team has one premier cornerback, you can simply avoid throwing at that person. For the record, Jets’ opponents are going to find it easy to avoid Sauce considering what they have on the other side of the field. If a team has a premier pass rusher, you must change your entire offensive gameplan to get them blocked.

In the end, I believe a deal will get done before the start of the regular season that keeps Sauce in New York and keeps him happy alongside teammate Garrett Wilson.