The New York Jets didn’t just shake up the NFL on Tuesday; they broke a few hearts along the way.
After the team traded both Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams, two defensive stars, one Jets season-ticket holder faced the most challenging job of all: telling his young kids.
In a viral post on X, the father broke the news after school, and his children did not take it well. One immediately burst into tears, heartbroken not just over Gardner’s departure, but because he had just gotten the star’s Nike Rivalry jersey, which New York is expected to wear in Week 14 against the Miami Dolphins.
And just when it couldn’t get worse, the dad mentioned that Quinnen Williams had also been dealt. Through tears, his son fired back the line that summed up the mood of an entire fanbase for the past decade-plus: “Now I don’t like the Jets.”
The viral clip quickly reached Sauce Gardner himself, who chimed in with a lighthearted dose of hindsight. “You should’ve at least waited till tmrw,” the former Jets cornerback wrote in response to the father’s post.
Gardner, a two-time All-Pro since being drafted in 2022, had just signed a lucrative four-year extension earlier this year. While Williams, the former third overall pick in 2019, earned three Pro Bowl nods and tallied 40.5 sacks over seven seasons, none ending with more than seven wins.
For one young fan, it wasn’t just a trade; it was his first real taste of life as a Jets fan.
