It is honestly wild that when Sauce Gardner left New York for Indianapolis, the Jets were 1-7… and now, the Colts are also sitting at 1-7 since he arrived. While Gardner has appeared in just four games with his new team, the impact has been underwhelming at best.
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On Sunday, the cornerback exited in the third quarter against the Jaguars with a calf injury and did not return. That makes it reasonable to assume his season is over, especially with the Colts out of the playoffs. Across 11 games this year, Gardner has recorded 28 tackles, eight assists, and nine passes defended, with no interceptions or sacks. Those are not numbers that jump off the page.
Still, Gardner feels the criticism he has been receiving for his down year has ignored the bigger picture. He let his feelings known in a now-deleted tweet, where the two-time All-Pro basically explained that he is receiving the Deion Sanders treatment.
Gardner, in his post, pointed out that he has been targeted just 32 times this season despite playing more than 600 snaps. For a full-time starting cornerback, that number is indeed low.
He added that through seven games, he had only seen 22 targets, which all but shows that opposing quarterbacks are actively avoiding the corner’s side of the field. In his own words, Gardner has been targeted 99.8% less than cornerbacks around the league.
Gardner went on to note that he has allowed roughly half of those passes, along with two touchdowns (one from a busted coverage) and 208 receiving yards. Since we see receivers regularly post 100-yard games, Gardner argued that his totals reflect tight coverage rather than poor play. His point was clear. If offenses are choosing not to test him, that is an impact that does not always show up in the stat sheet.
“Having a CB that take away half the field id equivilant to having a nice QB,” Gardner concluded in his post.
He deleted this i’m cryin 😭 pic.twitter.com/iwD0Jqs4zL
— m (@downbadbears) December 29, 2025
To be fair, Gardner did have some typical struggles against smaller, quicker receivers this season. That said, he has also been dealing with a calf injury since arriving in Indy.
He was even graded as the highest-coverage cornerback through the first nine weeks by Pro Football Focus, and it is not as if the Colts have fully unleashed him. They have been cautious after his injury, often keeping him off the field when his health was a concern. Essentially, using him sparingly after paying a steep price of two first-round picks.
And while the Colts are struggling, much like the Jets have for years, it is hard to pin that entirely on Gardner. This is the same team no one expected to start 8-2, with Daniel Jones of all quarterbacks leading the way.
They exceeded expectations early, but once Jones suffered an Achilles tear, the momentum disappeared. Now officially out of playoff contention, Gardner should have plenty of time to recover and set himself up for a proper bounce-back next season, similar to his first two years, and quiet the criticism.
