The Sauce Gardner trade looked like a panic move on Nov. 4. Six months later, it looks like a heist. On the latest episode of PFSN’s “Football Debate Club,” Dalton Wasserman and Ian Cummings both called the deal a win for the New York Jets, with Wasserman locking it in and Cummings hedging until the 2027 first-rounder is cashed.
New York sent its two-time All-Pro cornerback to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for a 2026 first-round pick that became Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq at No. 16, a 2027 first, and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell. Gardner played four games as a Colt, posting 16 tackles, 3 pass breakups, and 0 interceptions before a calf strain shut him down. Indianapolis then lost seven straight games, finished 8-9, and missed the playoffs entirely.
Kenyon Sadiq, Adonai Mitchell, and $30 Million in Cap Relief
The immediate haul plays. Sadiq came off the board as the consensus top tight end in the 2026 class. Mitchell, the 52nd pick in 2024 and buried behind the Colts’ depth chart, caught 24 of 58 targets for 301 yards and his first two NFL touchdowns in eight games with New York, including an 8-catch, 102-yard breakout against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 13.
“I can still call the structure of that trade a win for the Jets,” Wasserman said. “You’ve got the best tight end in this draft class in Kenyon Sadiq out of it. Adonai Mitchell is going to get a chance to prove he can be their No. 2 [or] No. 3 receiver for the long term.”
Wasserman then pointed to the piece of the trade that most analysts skipped past.
“At the time, you traded the highest-paid cornerback in football, right? Getting a $30 million salary off the books so they could extend Garrett Wilson, extend Breece Hall, and really just free up the flexibility they have to build the rest of this roster for a team that is rebuilding.”
Gardner had signed a four-year, $120.4 million extension on July 15, 2025, that made him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history at $30.1 million per year. Wilson’s four-year, $130 million extension had been agreed to one day earlier. Trading Gardner four months later cleared his $30.1 million annual figure and gave the Jets the room to lock up Hall on a three-year, $45.75 million extension on May 11. The two extensions that mattered to the long-term core are both done.
There is also the production question. Gardner is an elite coverage corner, but the takeaway numbers are thin. He has just 1 interception since 2022, and quarterbacks have largely refused to challenge him. The Jets sold high on a $30 million cap hit and a counting stat profile that didn’t justify it on a rebuilding roster.
The 2027 First-Round Pick Is the Sleeper
Cummings agreed the trade is trending toward a win, but won’t call it that yet.
“We still have to see what they do with that 2027 first-rounder they got,” Cummings said. “They have a lot of capital in 2027 round one, so they could trade up and get a franchise QB. But we need to see them pay it off. We need to see them use it effectively before we can definitively call it a win.”
This makes sense, and New York now owns three first-round picks in 2027 — the same draft that Cummings has hyped up as a loaded quarterback class. The Jets’ top priority should be finding their QB of the future in the first round of the 2027 NFL Draft.
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Gardner is 25 years old. He is an All-Pro coverage corner and may still develop the takeaway game that justifies the contract. The Jets aren’t betting against him. They’re betting the rebuild moves faster with Sadiq, Mitchell, cap flexibility, and a top-half 2027 first in hand than it would have with one $30 million corner.
Six months in, the trade has held up, and it has the potential to look even better depending on what happens in 2027.
