While attending the NFL owners meeting in Florida, New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn talked about his plans for several of the team’s star players.
The first-year head coach had a lot to say regarding cornerback Sauce Gardner. In particular, two of Glenn’s comments stuck out.
First, Glenn said he wanted people to recognize Gardner, along with Brandon Stephens, as “corners, not as man corners.”
Then, as is often the case regarding Gardner, Glenn was asked about the 24-year-old’s lack of interceptions. His response expands on the change he suggested earlier.
“When you play with your back to the quarterback the majority of the time, it’s hard to get all those interceptions that you want, but when you look at it, he’s denied the ball quite a bit. Him and Brandon [Stephens].
”When you play man coverage as much as those guys have, you’re going to have a good amount of PBUs, and interceptions not going to be there. But that’s one thing I want to work on with both those guys, is making sure that they can get their heads around to locate the ball and intercept the ball.”
Could Glenn be hinting at an increase in zone coverage for the Jets’ cornerbacks?
While Glenn’s Detroit Lions led the league in man coverage rate at 47.7% in 2024, defensive coordinator Steve Wilks prefers zone coverage. Each of Wilks’ previous four teams ranked somewhere from third to 11th in zone coverage rate, employing an average zone-man split of 74.3%/25.7%.
How has Sauce Gardner fared in zone coverage?
Across three years in the league, Gardner has been dominant in man coverage.
Across 504 man coverage snaps (29.7% man coverage rate), Gardner has allowed 304 yards (0.60 yards per snap), per PFF.
In zone, Gardner has been similarly dominant, allowing 567 yards over 921 snaps (0.61 yards per snap). On top of that, he’s recorded 17 forced incompletions on 61 targets (27.9%) in man coverage compared to 19 on 81 in zone (23.5%).
While the numbers are similar overall, it is hard to deny that Gardner’s man coverage skills are elite. Over his career in man coverage, Gardner has allowed only 39.3% of his targets to be caught, yielding a ridiculous 55.6 passer rating.
If he is so dominant in this area, why would playing more zone help Gardner?
While Gardner is one of the best corners in man coverage, Gardner has yet to snag an interception in man coverage (all three of his career picks came in zone coverage). And that is not unique to Gardner; in general, zone coverage results in more interceptions than man coverage. In 2024, NFL cornerbacks intercepted the ball once every 45.7 targets when playing zone coverage compared to 76.6 in man.
At this point in his career, the only thing stopping Gardner from being the NFL’s unquestioned top cornerback is interceptions. Even in his “down” 2024 season, if he could have snagged just two more interceptions, it would have dragged his allowed passer rating down from 79.3 (17th among 91 cornerbacks with 500+ defensive snaps) to 61.6 (4th).
While Gardner may be slightly better in man, he is still excellent in zone. This versatility will allow Glenn and Wilks to weaponize Gardner in multiple ways. He can either shadow a star receiver in man or sit back in zone to take the ball away.
According to Glenn’s comments, though, do not be surprised if the Jets lean toward Wilks’ zone-heavy tendencies in their new scheme, looking to create more interception opportunities for Gardner and the entire defense.
Interceptions are the final piece for Gardner
Gardner’s first two seasons compare closely to Patrick Surtain’s 2024 Defensive Player of the Year campaign. The one significant difference is that Surtain had four interceptions. When Stephon Gilmore won the award in 2019, he had six.
In Gardner’s historic rookie season, he had two interceptions and finished eighth in DPOY voting. Despite improving in many statistical categories in 2023, he had no interceptions and received no votes.
While the accolades would be nice, giving the ball back to the offense is better. Having a head coach and defensive coordinator who will utilize Gardner’s excellence and versatility can bring out the best in him.
