Although Sauce Gardner now resides nearly 700 miles west of Florham Park, N.J., the two-time All-Pro apparently continues to watch the New York Jets closely.
After the Jets allowed 48 points to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, New York fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks the following morning. The Indianapolis Colts’ star cornerback added his two cents.
In a since-deleted tweet, Gardner wrote, “current/former players that Coach Wilks [has] coached [know] he’s one of the best/smartest defensive coordinators in the NFL. It’s not always what it seems.”
Gardner played seven games under Wilks, whom the Jets hired in January following the addition of head coach Aaron Glenn. The Jets went 0-7 in those games, allowing 26.1 points per game while forcing one takeaway.
While Gardner and former players can defend Wilks all they like, the results speak for themselves. The Jets have one of the worst defenses in the NFL, ranking 30th in points allowed (28.4 points per game) and last in takeaways (3), and Wilks is largely at fault. New York lacks talent, but Wilks draws blame in numerous metrics that can be attributed to the coach, whether it’s his unjustifiably high blitz rate, the Jets’ penchant for blowing coverages, or his predictable play calling.
The woeful results are nothing new for Wilks, who has now gone one-and-done at six consecutive coaching stops dating back to 2018. As a defensive coordinator, this is the third straight time that Wilks has overseen a significant dip in his team’s defensive efficiency.
Meanwhile, Gardner remains sidelined for the Colts with a calf injury. He missed Sunday’s loss in Seattle, marking his second straight absence.
Gardner has only played three games for Indianapolis since the Colts traded AD Mitchell and two first-round picks to acquire him, and he only logged two snaps in the most recent of those games before going down with his calf injury.
The star cornerback’s absence is just a small part of a nightmarish two months in Indiana, where the Colts’ promising 7-1 start has been followed by one win in six games and a torn Achilles for their surging starting quarterback. Now at 8-6, the Colts are on the outside of the playoff picture, with 44-year-old Philip Rivers leading their offense.
It’s music to the ears of Jets fans, as New York owns Indianapolis’ 2026 first-round pick via the Gardner trade. That selection, projected to land in the 30s when the Jets acquired it, now sits in the No. 17 slot with three weeks to go.
Alongside the Jets’ ascent up the draft board with their own first-round pick thanks to some good fortune on Sunday, things are looking peachy for New York’s draft outlook. Without Wilks in the picture, though, Glenn hopes a jolt to the defensive locker room can spark a late-season turnaround that halts the draft rise, whether fans like it or not.
