Check out Sauce Gardner in action at New York Jets OTAs
Sauce Gardner can’t help but stand out no matter where he goes. Whether it’s on the field at Cincinnati with his lockdown coverage skills or on the NFL draft’s red carpet with his sparkling “SAUCE” chain, Gardner always steals the spotlight.
That also seems to apply on the practice field.
During an OTA practice on Wednesday, the New York Jets rookie was spotted with some unique attire while running a drill to hone his coverage skills.
In a video shared by Jets X-Factor’s Robby Sabo, Gardner can be seen getting in some one-on-one coverage reps against his Jets teammates while sporting a pair of bright red mitts. The mitts are intended to help cornerbacks become less grabby in coverage, all in an effort to reduce penalties.
Cancel Thanksgiving dinner … the Sauce is here.
CBs using mitts: Think of a dribbler dribbling a tennis ball, instead of a basketball. Cut down on that grasping and clutching. #Jets pic.twitter.com/qtE1ern7Sk
— Robby Sabo (@RobbySabo) June 8, 2022
Penalties were an issue for Gardner throughout the first two years of his collegiate career with the Bearcats. From 2019 to 2020, Gardner amassed 12 penalties over 1,142 defensive snaps (one penalty every 95.2 snaps).
Gardner did a tremendous job of solving this issue in his junior season. In 2021, Gardner was called for only two penalties over 968 defensive snaps (one penalty every 484.0 snaps).
Of course, Gardner’s NFL competition will be much tougher than the competition that he faced in the American Athletic Conference, so Gardner will need to continue sharpening his skills to make sure that he remains a low-penalty coverage man in the future.
Grabbiness is a bad habit that plagues many young cornerbacks in the NFL, so it’s good to see that Gardner is already working hard to ensure that he plays with disciplined hands at the professional level.
