Cornerback Sauce Gardner was a revelation in his first two years. A Defensive Rookie of the Year. Back-to-back first-team All-Pro nods. He wasn’t just a player, he was the guy. Then came 2024. And like the rest of the Jets, Gardner hit turbulence. With more penalties and fewer splash plays, he was 47th out of 52 in EPA per target. That’s headlines. But the new HC, Aaron Glenn, doesn’t care about last year’s data. He cares about this year’s ceiling.
“When you do lead, just let your influence do all the talking,” the HC said when asked what kind of growth he expects from Gardner in Year 4. “How do you operate in the huddle and with the players in the locker room? He (Gardner) understands that, because influence, to me, is really what leadership is about.” And that’s not some motivational wall art. Glenn, a 15-year NFL corner and three-time Pro Bowler, knows leadership can’t be manufactured. He doesn’t want Sauce pretending. He wants him to command.
Steve Wilks, the Jets’ new defensive coordinator, seconded the head coach’s opinion. When he sat down with the player, the bar wasn’t raised, it was reset. “I told him, ‘Sometimes your greatest strength is your greatest weakness,’” Wilks explained. “He’s a guy that sometimes at 85%, he’s still better than everybody around him. So his thing is, compete against yourself.” This isn’t just coach-speak. It’s intentional.
08/05/23 – Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner speaks with the media after practice at training camp in Florham Park, NJ. Photo by Bill Kostroun
Jets
And Gardner gets it. He’s not pushing back. In fact, he’s leaning into the standard. “I know I’m not perfect,” Sauce said. “But the fact that (Wilks) is trying to get perfection out of me is what I need.” Aaron Glenn has seen the flashes of talent. Gardner was named first-team All-Pro in both of his first two seasons, a feat matched by only two other defensive players in NFL history, Lawrence Taylor and Micah Parsons.
“It’s great to have those types of guys that are going to demand a lot out of me and just push me in ways that I’ve never been pushed before,” the CB added. But the stakes are high this year. The Jets want more, and with a potential extension looming, Gardner’s about to enter the prime of his career under coaches who won’t let him coast.
Aaron Glenn faces QB headache
The other side of the Jets’ equation is far less stable. Fields is a high-variance quarterback, and we’ve known that since Chicago. He’s electric when the play breaks down. He’s erratic when it doesn’t. And through the Jets minicamp, those trends haven’t exactly reversed.
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As Nick Faria of Jets, X-Factor reported, “Some of the issues that we saw earlier in his career, completion percentage in the fourth quarter, being late on his reads, being too slow to process, bailing from the pocket a little bit too early, all of those things have followed him over the last four years. You saw it happen at minicamp.” That’s not just a critique. That’s a concern for Aaron Glenn.
It’s not that everything is bad. He completed nearly 66% of his passes in Pittsburgh last year and ran for 5 TDs in limited action. He can move the ball. But can he control the game? Can he win from the pocket in the fourth quarter at Buffalo in December? Nobody inside the MetLife Stadium is pretending to know yet. And here’s the kicker, the window is tight.
The defense, led by Sauce, is already elite. The O-line’s been rebuilt. Garrett Wilson is in his prime. Breece Hall’s ready. The only thing missing? Consistent quarterback play. Fields don’t need to be perfect. But he has to be dependable. And right now, the whispers are louder than the highlights.
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