Colts acquired CB Sauce Gardner from the New York Jets for AD Mitchell and two first-round picks.

04 November 2025

Chris Ballard has paid the first-round pick freight for a defender before, when he added DeForest Buckner to the Colts ahead of the 2020 season. It’s a stunning repudiation of the Jets’ plan to have Gardner in their core, but then again they probably never pictured they would be able to get two first-round picks for him before signing him to a long-term extension. Indianapolis’ cornerback room has been in dire need of an upgrade like this on paper for a long time. The problem is that it’s mostly on paper at this point, as Gardner has posted back-to-back PFF coverage grades of 68.1 in 2025 and 73.1 in 2024, a far cry from his 2022 and 2023 seasons. He has not taken to Aaron Glenn’s aggressive system quite as well as expected, and perhaps not as well as the Jets expected either. So the Jets will take the rebuilding road here. For the Colts, even if Gardner isn’t who he was in his first two seasons, he’s a massive upgrade as they attempt to hold on to the AFC South and prime playoff seeding. Their starting cornerbacks last week were Jaylon Jones and Mekhi Blackmon, and once Charvarius Ward is healthy they could throw out Ward, Gardner, and Kenny Moore come playoff time.