New York Jets select Cincinnati CB Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner with the 4th pick. Grade: A+
With the fourth pick in the 2022 NFL draft, the New York Jets select Cincinnati CB Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner.
GRADE: A+.
In today’s NFL, where offenses are throwing quick game 60% of the time, you’d better have cornerbacks in your defense who can press and disrupt at the line of scrimmage, and then take receivers all the way up the field. Gardner played about 75% press in his snaps last season, and the Bearcats played more single-high than any NCAA defense except for LSU’s. There is no better fit for Robert Saleh’s defense in this draft class, regardless of position.
Mark Schofield’s scouting report:
Height: 6’3″ (98th) Weight: 190 (42nd)
40-Yard Dash: 4.41 seconds (77th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Bio: Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner was a wide receiver and cornerback for Martin Luther King High School in Detroit, Michigan. 247Sports graded him as a three-star recruit, and he was named one of the top-30 players in the state of Michigan in the 2019 recruiting class. He entertained offers from a number of Power 5 programs, including Kentucky and Indiana, but signed to play for the Cincinnati Bearcats.
He played right away for Cincinnati, appearing in all 11 games as a true freshman and snaring three interceptions, two of which he returned for touchdowns. Over his career with the Bearcats, Gardner grabbed three interceptions in each of his three seasons on campus, and never allowed a touchdown pass.
His nickname Sauce was given to him by a youth football coach, reportedly due to Gardner’s love of dipping sauces.
Stat to Know: If you want a cornerback in this class with press coverage experience, Gardner is your player. Pro Football Focus charted him with 397 press coverage snaps this past season, tops among cornerbacks.
Strengths: We can begin there. Gardner is, as PFF noted in their draft guide, a cornerback who was built in a laboratory to play press man coverage. His size, length and footwork make him ideal to play on an island, isolated against a team’s top receiver in press alignment.
But size is not his best trait as a cornerback, although his frame puts him in a position to step into an NFL defense and play in such a press-heavy scheme. What really stands out to me watching Gardner is his feel and technique for the position. Gardner uses his length extremely well, always keeping a hand on the receiver and maintaining ideal positioning.
In press, Gardner is patient and rarely panics. He can play physical off the line as well, as he does here on this snap against Notre Dame where he is aligned on the left side of the defense:
Perhaps my favorite snap of his from this past season was this play against Temple, where he covers the crossing route working left-to-right well initially, but his response to the sudden scramble-drill move from the receiver gets to his movement skills:
On this play you see how Gardner’s technique — keeping a hand on the receiver — puts him in position to immediately flip his hips and stay on the receiver as the offensive player makes the sudden turn upfield. It is one thing for a cornerback to mirror a conventional route, or even a double move, with change-of-direction skills. But when a receiver makes a more unexpected move, such as a vertical break in a scramble-drill situation, and you can mirror it the way Gardner does here? That truly stands out.
While the bulk of his experience is playing man from a press alignment, there are moments where Gardner showed schematic versatility, and the ability to play in zone coverage or from off alignments. On this play against East Carolina, that ability was on display as he sinks under the corner route from the tight end in a Cover 2 scheme:
Still, his strength is what he offers in man coverage, as well as how he plays in press alignment. Gardner offers “island cornerback” potential, something that many teams are probably hoping they have on the defensive side of the football.
Weaknesses: There are not a ton of weaknesses to his game, as you might expect when discussing some of the top players in the draft class. He has more experience in press-man than zone, which might have zone-heavy teams a bit wary. There were some snaps against Alabama where his aggression got to him, as receivers were able to get past him on double-moves. He does not have elite, track-level speed, so burners at the receiver position might be able to get open deep downfield, but the 4.41 40-yard dash at the Combine “checked the box” for him.
Conclusion: What Gardner does in press alignment and/or man coverage checks a lot of NFL boxes. Gardner believes he is the best player in the entire draft class, and you need that confidence as a cornerback in the NFL. Plus, when Richard Sherman names you CB1, you have every right to be confident.
Comparison: For me, Sherman is the comparison. The length, movement skills and ability to align in press and stick on a receiver are the reasons why.
