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What Has Happened to Sauce Gardner's Game?
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

What Has Happened to Sauce Gardner's Game?

Originally posted on Athlon Sports  |  By Doug Farrar  |  Last updated Oct 4, 2026 3:16 PM ET
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If you want to know how quickly things can go south for a once-great cornerback, go ask Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner of the Indianapolis Colts.

The fourth overall pick in the 2022 draft out of Cincinnati by the New York Jets didn’t take long to become one of the NFL’s best young defenders. Gardner was the 2022 Defensive Rookie of the Year, and he was a First-Team All-Pro in each of his first two seasons.

And when the Jets traded Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts last November 4 as part of a fire sale that also saw defensive lineman Quinnen Williams dealt to the Dallas Cowboys, the Jets received Indy’s first-round picks in 2026 and 2027, along with 2024 second-round receiver Adonai Mitchell. The Colts also inherited the four-year, $120.4 million contract extension Gardner signed with the Jets in July, 2025.

Obviously, the Colts believed that Gardner would make a huge difference for a contending team — they had a 7-2 record when the trade was made. But for all kinds of reasons that had nothing to do with Gardner’s presence, the Colts finished 8-9 with seven straight losses to end the season. A calf injury limited Gardner’s participation down the stretch, but in 118 coverage snaps from Week 10 to Week 17, he allowed seven catches on 13 targets for 51 yards, 27 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, no interceptions, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 63.3.

Which is about what you’d expect from a cornerback of Gardner’s caliber, healthy or not.

Unfortunately, the 2026 version of Gardner has been nothing like what was expected. You don’t give up two first-round picks and a receiver for a cornerback who, through the first four games of the season, has allowed eight catches on 15 targets for 186 yards, 35 yards after the catch, one touchdown, no interceptions, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 120.4.

Even before Sunday morning’s game against the Washington Commanders at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Gardner was getting lit up by opposing receivers far too often. His technique was off, and he seemed a step slow.

But Sunday’s game, which the Colts won, 30-13, was the nadir from Gardner’s perspective. With starter Jayden Daniels dealing with an elbow injury, and backup Marcus Mariota suffering a knee injury halfway through the first quarter, it was up to rookie seventh-round quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis to do his thing.

Kaliakmanis did his thing to a point, completing 15 of 33 passes for 186 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and a passer rating of 60.9. That was not the problem from the Colts’ perspective. The problem from the Colts’ perspective was that when Kaliakmanis aired it out, Gardner was the obvious target.

Maybe it’s okay that Gardner doesn’t have five interceptions on the new season, but it is definitely not okay that a rookie quarterback with no game-planning time knows exactly who the huckleberry is on defense. In NFL parlance, it’s called “Find the Fish,” and if the guy you traded all that capital for is the fish, you have a major problem. This is how Gardner allowed 3 catches on 5 targets for 104 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions, 1 pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of 143.8.

“Yeah, it’s great to have him out there,” Colts head coach Shane Steichen said this week regarding how Gardner is acclimating to his surroundings. “He’s made some good PBUs here and there. He almost had an interception a couple weeks ago. He’s been right there in coverage on a lot of these plays, and so anytime you can have a guy that can cover like him, it’s going to help your team. And I think him being in the system too, Year Two now fully in it, and all the details and intricacies that go with it, I think he’s only going to get better.”

Gardner knows that the pressure is on.

“I’ve got a standard that I hold myself to,” he recently said. “So at the end of the day, that’s what I do. Obviously, some plays or some games it’s like ‘Man, I want to be better. I could have made this play. I could have communicated a little bit more, and let this person know that this was about to happen.’ So, it’s just one of those things where I got a standard, and my standard that I hold myself to is why they traded for me to begin with.”

No doubt, but Gardner needs to find that standard again — sooner rather than later — or he will continue to be an expensive liability.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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