Sauce Gardner Traded to Colts, Jets Get 2 1st-Round NFL Draft Picks, Adonai Mitchell

The New York Jets traded star cornerback Sauce Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for two first-round picks and receiver Adonai Mitchell.

New York will receive Indianapolis' first-round picks in 2026 and 2027.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported the blockbuster deal.

Prior to the news breaking, Gardner bid adieu to the Big Apple on social media:

The Colts are well and truly going for it amid an AFC-best 7-2 start. They're the conference's top playoff seed right now thanks to claiming the tiebreakers over the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos.

Giving up two first-rounders for a cornerback in his prime is a sign that Indy believes it has the pieces to win a Super Bowl right now.

Gardner's stock has slipped a bit from when he was a back-to-back All-Pro in his first two seasons, though.

In 2024, the 25-year-old had one interception and nine pass breakups. Those numbers are partially attributable to quarterbacks looking his way less after he played at an elite level as a rookie. According to Pro Football Reference, he was targeted 86 times in 2022 compared to 58 times last year.

Still, Gardner's performance wasn't the same relatively speaking. He allowed 16.4 yards per completion, and QBs had an 86.9 passer rating when throwing to his man.

Those numbers have each gotten worse in 2025. He's giving up 17.3 yards per catch and a 98.1 quarterback rating.

The Jets generally don't receive the benefit of the doubt on their personnel moves. In this case, however, they might be selling high on a player who hasn't yet started the four-year, $120 million extension he signed.

Granted, going from a 1-7 team to a contender might light a fire under Gardner. The Colts are clearly betting that a change of scenery helps him recapture his best form.

The comparison to another Jets defensive back who fetched multiple first-rounders in a trade is nonetheless inescapable. The Seattle Seahawks cashed in a lot of draft capital to get Jamal Adams in 2020, and they saw steadily diminishing returns from the safety.

Gardner obviously plays a different position, but it's easy to overlook how fleeting a cornerback's peak can be.

Josh Norman had a pretty nondescript career aside from his All-Pro breakout in 2015. Darrelle Revis only had one more truly great season after getting traded by the Jets in 2013. Even before he suffered a torn ACL in 2023, Trevon Diggs started to go backward after intercepting an NFL-high 11 passes in 2021. Xavien Howard's 2020 All-Pro nod is an outlier in his career.

Gardner might simply be a player who plateaued really early.

Should he look rejuvenated in Indianapolis, he'll be yet another young star whom the Jets squandered.