In what has been and will likely continue to be the biggest news of the trade deadline, cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner was dealt from the New York Jets to the Indianapolis Colts on Tuesday, sending shockwaves around the league.
Gardner, a two-time first-team All-Pro and arguably the best at his position in the current landscape, is still just 25 years old. Acquiring him cost the Colts a pretty penny, but sending two first-round picks and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell is a small price to pay for a team that feels that their Super Bowl window is wide open.
How the Colts’ Trade of Sauce Gardner Transpired
Perhaps even more stunning than the trade itself is the fact that it comes on the heels of Gardner signing a four-year contract extension with the Jets just this past summer. The deal was worth $120.4 million dollars, but according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, it was structured in a way that allowed the Jets to cleanly cut ties without digging themselves into a financial hole.
How was it possible for the Jets to trade Sauce Gardner barely three months after he signed a massive construction? The structure was key. Details from our breaking news hit on @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/xT9h00wM5S
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 4, 2025
“He got a signing bonus of $13 million dollars,” Pelissero said of Gardner. “That’s not huge by NFL standards. Because it was $13 million, that means there was only $10 million dollars in cap hits in the future.”
Pelissero noted that the Jets would have to pay Gardner a $20 million dollar option bonus if he’s on the roster in 2026. Of course, for a player of Gardner’s caliber, that would be a no-brainer; he’s a stabilizing presence in their secondary. But if a team like the Colts were going to come around with an offer that first-year general manager Darren Mougey couldn’t refuse, he had to pull the trigger.
“The Colts now inherit that option bonus, so for the Jets, they save not just cash, but they save cap space going into the future as well, in addition to picking up the two first-round picks and in addition to getting wide receiver Adonai Mitchell,” said Pelissero.
Jets Eyeing QB of the Future?
Under first-year head coach Aaron Glenn, the Jets have lost seven of their first eight games to begin the season. Only the Tennessee Titans (1-8) have a worse record than the Jets, as Glenn’s squad has failed to generate any momentum.
The reality of the Jets’ situation is that they were never a cornerback away from becoming a championship-caliber team, or even an average team at that. Their top priority, and this has been the case for over a decade now, is finding a franchise quarterback.
Our CB IMPACT score has Sauce at 84.5 for the season, which ranks 23rd among all cornerbacks. pic.twitter.com/a5fnjjyVX3
— PFSN (@PFSN365) November 4, 2025
They signed Justin Fields in free agency this past offseason, but that experiment has been a colossal failure. Fields was even benched at one point in favor of Tyrod Taylor, however, Taylor suffered an injury, forcing the Jets to turn back to Fields when it was made clear by owner Woody Johnson that he wasn’t the preferred starter.
Positioned with four first-round selections over the next two years, the Jets are going to be in the conversation to land one of the draft’s top quarterbacks, whether that’s in 2026 or 2027. They’ll have the assets to move up or down the draft board however they please.
The Jets have spent a top-three draft pick on a quarterback twice since 2018, starting with Sam Darnold and last with Zach Wilson in 2021. Johnson and general manager Joe Douglas swung a blockbuster trade with the Green Bay Packers for Aaron Rodgers in the spring of 2023, but Rodgers missed the entirety of his first season with the team with an Achilles injury.