The Indianapolis Colts surprisingly made national headlines on Tuesday ahead of the league’s trade deadline, acquiring New York Jets 2x NFL First-Team All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner for their 2026 and
2027 first round picks, as well as young wideout AD Mitchell (per ESPN’s Adam Schefter):
It’s obviously a steep price to pay for the Colts, albeit for an elite young player at a premium defensive position.
Originally the 2022 4th overall pick by the New York Jets, the 25-year-old Gardner has quickly become one of the best young all-around cornerbacks in the game. He was NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2022, a 2x NFL First-Team All-Pro, a 2x NFL Pro Bowler, and made the PFWA All-Rookie Team (2022).
During 7 starts for the Jets this season, the 6’3”, 190 pound Gardner has recorded 20 tackles (15 solo) and 6 passes defensed. Per PFF, he’s earned a +71.3 overall grade, which is ranked 21st among 105 qualifying cornerbacks. However, he’s arguably been the game’s top cornerback since entering the league—and is still playing at a very high level this 2025 campaign to-date:
The Colts had reportedly still been active in the cornerback market, even after the return of former starter Jaylon Jones from a hamstring injury along the outside.
However, no one could’ve reasonably predicted Gardner as a realistic get, who gives Indianapolis an elite shutdown corner and one of the best outside pairings in the league, opposite former All-Pro veteran Charvarius Ward, who remains on injured reserve still recovering from his second concussion suffered during this season.
Even though the Colts were salary cap space strapped entering the day, with around $4.261M of available team salary cap space, per SI.com’s Albert Breer, Gardner will only cost Indianapolis the minimum in salary this year, with his ordinary cap hits scheduled and due for the remaining years of his 4-year, $120.4M contract extension that he signed this past offseason with the New York Jets:
This deadline mega-move is surprising to me on at least a few levels:
- Colts longtime general manager Chris Ballard has never been regarded as borderline reckless or careless with his precious draft capital, as if anything, he has historically tried to accumulate more picks, not less since taking over in Indianapolis during the 2017 offseason. His biggest trade deadline move prior to Tuesday’s big splash was swapping out backup running back Nyheim Hines to the Buffalo Bills for Zack Moss and a 6th rounder in 2022.
- From a player personnel secondary standpoint and in Lou Anarumo’s eyes, it’s great, but the Colts will also be paying around $45.7M combined to their outside cornerback pairing of Gardner and Ward next season. From a salary cap allocation standpoint, that number is high and means that savings will have to be made up at other positions going forward, especially when someone like wideout Alec Pierce is a pending 2026 free agent. It doesn’t necessarily mean Pierce is a goner, but it is something to monitor going forward.
However, for a Colts team that sits at 7-2 atop the AFC, this was the ‘all chips in move’ that late team owner Jim Irsay had previously proclaimed and is every bit of a win-now move. It makes sense in a down year for the AFC among the conference’s top teams and especially with the Colts boasting the league’s top offense. This move will improve the other side of the ball which has been improved and remains opportunistic, but had a depleted secondary among its other readily apparent shortcomings.
Gardner is still more than young enough to be a long-term defensive franchise pillar, but it also means that the Colts are banking on a 2-3 year window for contention before the aftermath of losing their 2026 and 2027 first round picks are felt further down the road from a potential young elite player and cost savings standpoint.
Paired with Ward, Gardner should provide an All-Pro outside pairing that when fully healthy, is undisputably the best cornerback duo in the league. Not to mention collectively for the Indy secondary, with former Pro Bowl veteran Kenny Moore II also manning the inside slot role.
Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo has to be currently grinning from ear-to-ear with Sauce’s acquisition.
As for Mitchell, the former 2024 2nd round pick of the Colts remains young (23) and talented, but had been largely benched following his Week 4 ‘would-be’ scoring gaffe against the Los Angeles Rams. Mitchell has shown an elite ability to separate, but also had some maturity issues and growing pains that Indy was working through.
With his departure, the Colts do lose a cost controllable talented, young wideout though (with some headaches attached) ahead of an upcoming offseason, as mentioned, where Pierce is set to hit free agency, presumably as a coveted deep threat by other NFL suitors. It means that Mitchell can no longer be a potential replacement.
Still this move is all about Sauce, and he should provide a significant upgrade to a depleted Colts secondary both now and for the foreseeable future—albeit at a steep cost going forward.
Time will tell whether this major splash plays off for Chris Ballard and the Colts!
