Indianapolis, IN — The Indianapolis Colts had been desperate for competent cornerback play in recent years. From BoPete Keyes and Anthony Chesley in primetime to the entire room being ravaged by injury,
the cornerback experience under general manager Chris Ballard had seen better days — then again, it hadn’t.
Veteran acquisitions Xavier Rhodes and Stephon Gilmore proved to be well worth their paychecks, but they paled in comparison to what recent free agent signee Charvarius Ward has to offer at this stage in his career. Finally, the Colts have a legitimate CB1 to call their own. Only, they didn’t stop there.
Around noon on NFL trade deadline day — a day foreign to the Colts during the Ballard era — the Indianapolis Colts shocked the world, and their own city, by forking over a haul for superstar cornerback Sauce Gardner.
Heading into this past offseason’s free agency, the Colts had gaping holes throughout their defensive backfield. This isn’t ideal for any NFL team, but especially not for one looking to rebound big with a new face in charge of the defense in Lou Anarumo. Thankfully, if all else had failed, Anarumo and Co.‘s experience with defensive backs was enough not to sound the alarm.
Not only did the opposite happen, but the Colts went from mid-level corners in the off-season to having not one but two bonafide CB1s. Gardner and Ward are contractually slated to start opposite one another for at least the next 2.5 seasons, a reality few Colts fans ever envisioned outside of Madden.
After the news broke, however, a recent change in tune followed soon thereafter: Is Sauce Gardner actually good now that NFL officiating is cracking down on his inherent holds between the whistle?
It’s a fair question, but is it overblown? For starters, I took the liberty of cutting up every penalty of his from the 2024-25 season, the timeline in which the accusations began, for a better idea of what we’re working with.
Any lowlight compilation like so will inevitably feel overwhelming as a whole bunch of bad is hurled at you in succession. When you look at it from the opposing perspective of how this, a collection of just ten negative plays, can actually be turned into a positive, those aforementioned penalty issues seem a bit unwarranted.
Sauce Gardner is undeniably a handsy cornerback in coverage, but he’s also one of the best cornerbacks in the league because of it. At his core, Gardner is an uber-athletic, aggressive, and confident player. His frame (6’3”, 190 lbs) also plays a factor, as bigger, taller, and/or faster cornerbacks typically suffer from the same tendencies. Given that Gardner’s a press-man specialist, the opportunity is multiplied.
Couple all of this with his mindset as a top-tier ballhawk with above-average ball skills — fantastic instincts at the catch point with subpar catching ability (obligatory, that’s why he plays defense!) — and you start to see why Gardner has been pinned as a guy who is not actually talented, but is unfairly forgiven for playing with reckless abandon.
Furthermore, let’s take a look at how Gardner fared penalty-wise amongst his peers last season (i.e., the year of the alleged drop-off). The most penalties committed among NFL cornerbacks in 2024-25, per PFF:
1. Joey Porter Jr. (15)
2. Jaycee Horn (12)
T-3. Pat Surtain, Cam Taylor-Britt, D.J. Reed, Marlon Humphrey (11)
T-7. Terrion Arnold, Sauce Gardner (10)
Right off the bat, the company sticks out. Gardner is not only the seventh name to pop up, but he’s accompanied by some of the best cornerbacks leaguewide. He already has 4 penalties in 7 games this season, but that’s only T-22nd at the position — tied with Texans top corner Derek Stingley Jr. and less than notable names such as Pat Surtain II, Joey Porter Jr., and Terrion Arnold.
Cover cornerbacks, in general, are known for going step for step with any given receiver; therefore, a lot of man coverage is typically a big part of their game. Lo and behold, six of the eight listed cornerbacks played a 30% man coverage rate or higher across the corresponding season.
Like those listed, Gardner’s opportunistic playstyle comes back to bite him from time to time, but overall is a net positive. His tendency to latch on may suggest that he’s not confident in himself, though sometimes it’s due to a lack of belief in the scheme. Playing with the hands-on nature that he does may very well be nothing more than a bad habit, but you can live with ten mishaps over the course of a season when you’re getting an elite cover corner outside of it. At the end of the day, it comes with the territory.
Schematically, Sauce Gardner should thrive under defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. This Colts defense has been desperate for dependable consistency at the boundaries, as well as from a pass rush standpoint, and this pairing should work wonders, especially once Charvarius Ward is back. Anarumo has been chomping at the bit to play more press-man coverage and run more exotic pressures and/or coverages off of it, and Gardner’s presence as a specialist will fit like a glove.
Although he’s still expected to perform at an all-world level, Gardner no longer has to carry an entire defensive system alongside one teammate, and such relinquishing of responsibility, coupled with a change of scenery, should instill a newfound confidence in the already-proven player.
