Sauce Gardner’s ability to bat passes out of the air is unmatched as he’s logged 31 passes defended in two years, including a league-leading 20 as a rookie in 2022. That earned him the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award and immediately launched him into one of the top corners of the league category.
The back-to-back first-team All-Pro’s 33.5-inch arms help give him unique ball skills, but he also has always had a knack for that part of his game. B/R’s defensive backs scout Cory Giddings noted in the Cincinnati product’s scouting report that he “stays calm with the ball in the air and attacks the ball through the reception point.”
That combination of natural ability and long limbs suggests we can expect Gardner to continue to put up numbers over the next several years, similar to the ones below from Pro Football Focus.
“Gardner, 23, already has a case as the best cornerback in the NFL,” PFF’s Zoltán Buday wrote while ranking the corner second overall on a Top 25 under 25 list. “His 91.2 PFF overall grade over the past two seasons leads all players at the position, while his 2,163 regular-season snaps rank third among cornerbacks.