Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner profile: Why the New York Jets drafted the cornerback in the 2022 NFL Draft
The New York Jets picked cornerback Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner with the fourth pick in the 2022 NFL draft.
A consensus three-star recruit in 2019, Gardner hit the field running, as he recorded three interceptions and six PBUs in each of his first two seasons with the Bearcats, scoring off two of his picks in 2019. In 2021, he started to receive some of the national attention he deserved, making the first-team All-American team, picking off three more passes, deflecting another four and recording three sacks, while rarely being targeted.
He helped Cincinnati become the first Non-Power Five team to make the CFP, and with questions about all the other top corners, he has risen to the top of most draft boards.
Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner's strengths
“Sauce” lined up almost exclusively in press-coverage (FBS-high 397 snaps last season) and has been a lockdown guy as Cincy’s boundary corner. He shows good patience off the line and excels with his catch technique, fluidly transitioning hands that attach to the pads of receivers and smoothly flipping his hips around along with it.
He’s light on his feet and has that short-area burst to get into perfect position as the receiver commits to his route stem. His success rate with landing one- and two-handed jams into the frame of his man with those 33 ½-inch arms is excellent, to where he would end some routes by AAC receivers before they could even really start.
While he was shaded to the outside a lot, Gardner does not surrender easy access to the middle of the field. Instead, he stays engaged throughout inside stems. He has the speed to carry vertically and squeeze guys into the sideline, as well as the feel to bubble or slip underneath, to stick with crossing routes when manned up, along with the make-up burst to get back into the picture and crowd the catch point once he sees the receiver turn his head for the ball, if the corner does get beat off the line initially. Gardner was matched up with tight ends a few times, as well, in unbalanced sets.
While he was so heavily utilized in man-coverage, the times Cincinnati bailed out into cover-two, Gardner showed an ability to layer in-between routes and get a hand on throws over his head. That was part in him getting three picks last season, while only allowing half of 20 targets his way to be completed for 131 yards. He displays that ability to bail sideways in cover-three and peak at the back working into the flats, ready to fly upfield if the ball goes underneath him, as well as peel off his man as teams try to hit scissors concepts or a deep crosser coming his way.
Sauce is willing and urgent to shut those quick throws down. You see the same in run-support if he doesn’t have to stay with somebody trying to run him off, and even then, he’s using his hands to get off blocks and contribute. When he can track the ball, he plays with extension through blocks, at times, even tight ends.
Gardner’s long arms are a major asset when face-guarding receivers and trying to swipe through the hands of the man once the ball gets there. Even when smaller, shifty receivers do find a way to create an opening for the ball, the all-world corner can reach in at the last second and break up the pass.
He plays the back-shoulder ball patiently and confidently, not really allowing tall wideouts to outmuscle him. Sauce only allowed 40 catches on 98 targets for 581 yards through his first two years. Yet, last year, he absolutely blanketed guys, not surrendering more than 13 yards through the air in any single game. He also came up big against East Carolina, as he broke up a pass into the end zone and then took a blocked field goal back to the house on consecutive plays, to secure the win.
Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner's weaknesses
With that being said, Gardner is pretty high-cut and might not quite be able to stick with super-quick NFL route-runners necessarily. You saw him look a bit uncomfortable and try to get a hold of Memphis’ Calvin Austin a few times in their 2020 matchup. At times, he will overextend in press and compromise his position because of it.
Plus, he’ll get a little grabby at the top of routes, when he has his back to the ball. NFL referees won’t let that fly, while obviously getting challenged by more explosive threats on the outside, who he won’t be able to bully in that same manner. And when he sees it and tries to play it, Gardner tends to go for the pick rather than knock it out of the receiver’s hands, which ended up with him not doing either a few times prior to this past season. At this point, he is more so a dive-tackler who missed six of 45 attempts last season.
Conclusion on Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner
If you’re looking for a press-man shutdown type of corner, nobody has been better at it over the last two years, and this past one particularly, than Sauce. I have a little bit of a concern about him going up against really shifty, smaller receivers, but he just had an excellent combine performance, measuring in taller than expected at 6’3”, running a 4.41 in the 40, being so fluid in his transitions, despite that lanky build, and catching the ball well. He will have to get better at staying on his feet as a tackler, and there will probably be some growing pains with learning how much less contact the NFL allows, but he’s an amazing single-high, boundary corner.
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