Jets' haul for Sauce Gardner shows New York clearly lost the trade

In a move that seemed unthinkable just a few months after the NY Jets decided to make All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner the highest-paid cornerback in football at more than $30 million per season, this organization has now traded the $120 million man away after just eight games under the Aaron Glenn regime.

The Jets traded Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts for a package containing two first-round picks in both the 2026 and 2027 NFL Drafts, as well as wide receiver Adonai Mitchell. The trade now gives the Jets four first-round picks in the next two seasons as they dip fully into rebuild mode.

While the trade might look good for a new GM like Darren Mougey, as he gets to flex his drafting muscles, the odds of the Jets landing a player anywhere close to Gardner with either of the Indianapolis picks are minuscule.

The Colts got the best player in this deal running away, and it might be decades before the Jets are able to get a player of Gardner's caliber on the outside once again. This is a stunning trade, and the Jets' path to success is uneven.

Colts cone out clear winners in Jets' blockbuster Sauce Gardner trade

The Jets can only win this trade if Mougey hits two home runs with these picks. Unlike the Jamal Adams trade, which gave the Jets a premium pick they used to select Garrett Wilson, Indianapolis' picks will likely be much later in the first round.

No individual player the Jets will be able to acquire in the next few years will be as good as Gardner, which places an even greater emphasis on being able to hit on draft picks. Even if they do it, losing an All-Pro talent at the top of his game is not the type of loss the Jets will be able to recover from.

Mitchell's poor performance in Indianapolis doesn't give him the best odds of suddenly turning it on with Justin Fields in New York. Gardner, meanwhile, takes a Colts defense that badly needed some reinforcements in the secondary from a good defense to a great one.

The Jets may end up getting something out of this trade, but it involves New York hitting on multiple years of draft picks in a row, the Colts being really bad, and the Jets somehow landing a quarterback on top of being able to plug some of their big needs. That is way too many question marks to declare them the big winner.