Sauce Gardner just got slammed with the most disrespectful snub of his career

It’s been a busy week for Sauce Gardner. The New York Jets cornerback signed a new four-year, $120.4 million extension that made him the highest-paid player at his position in NFL history.

The Jets are clearly sold on Gardner as one of the faces of their franchise for years to come, but it appears not everyone around the NFL shares that belief.

ESPN released its annual cornerback rankings, compiled from anonymous votes by NFL executives, coaches, and scouts, on Thursday, and Gardner was ranked as just the fifth-best cornerback in the league. At least one evaluator even left him unranked, meaning they don’t consider him a top-10 cornerback at all.

It's not just about his admittedly down 2024 season, either. According to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, "some evaluators have had problems with his play for the past two seasons." Yes, that includes his 2023 season, when he was named first-team All-Pro and produced one of the best statistical years by a cornerback in NFL history.

There's no other way to say it — this is absolutely ridiculous. And it’s time we talk about how Sauce Gardner might be the most disrespected player in the entire sport.

Sauce Gardner is the most disrespected player in the NFL

That 2023 season that "some evaluators" took issue with was one of the best performances we've seen from a cornerback in recent memory. Gardner became the only cornerback since at least 2006 (when PFF began tracking data) to allow 251 or fewer yards, be targeted 51 or fewer times, and play over 1,000 defensive snaps in a single season.

Yet despite this, some evaluators apparently had problems with his play that year. Actually hilarious. Did they even watch, or were they just reading Twitter narratives?

Since entering the league in 2022, Gardner ranks first among all cornerbacks in PFF grade, PFF coverage grade, catches allowed per game, yards allowed per game, yards allowed per coverage snap, and completion percentage allowed. No corner in football has a stronger resume over the last three years. None.

Of course, we need to be fair here. 2024 was the worst season of Gardner’s career, by his lofty standards. He allowed a career-worst 391 yards, was flagged 10 times (after being penalized just 10 total times over his first two seasons), and struggled with missed tackles early in the year. His 17.5% missed-tackle rate was the highest of his career.

Even still, however, Gardner allowed the fewest catches of any qualified cornerback in the league and gave up just 26 yards per game. The tackling issues are valid, and sure, the Jets would love to see more takeaways from their CB1. His ball skills are a weakness of his game.

But there is no logical universe where a player with Gardner’s coverage stats and accolades gets left off a top-10 list, unless the people voting didn’t do their homework or had some preconceived notions.

And if some of them had issues with arguably the greatest statistical season by a cornerback in modern NFL history, maybe they shouldn’t be taken seriously in the first place.

At the end of the day, Gardner will be laughing his way to the bank with his new extension. The Jets just locked up arguably the best cornerback in football through 2030, and they couldn’t be happier about it, even if “some evaluators” still haven’t caught on.

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