{"id":102556,"date":"2025-06-04T05:39:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T05:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/102556\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T05:39:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T05:39:14","slug":"ny-jets-sauce-gardner-still-grades-as-nfls-best-cb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/102556\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Jets’ Sauce Gardner still grades as NFL’s best CB"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do the New York Jets have the best cornerback in the NFL?<\/p>\n

If you ask Pro Football Focus, Sauce Gardner<\/a> is the best cornerback in the league. Gardner was yet again graded as the NFL\u2019s best cornerback when sorting through the top 32 players at the position.<\/p>\n

\u201cGardner\u2019s 91.9 PFF coverage grade since 2022 leads the league,\u201d PFF\u2019s John Kosko wrote<\/a>. \u201cHe has forced a league-high 46 incompletions and allowed a league-low 0.60 yards per cover snap and 21.4% first-down-plus-touchdown rate over that span.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnsurprisingly, Gardner\u2019s PFF advanced coverage grade ranks first, as well. While he might not shadow opposing wide receivers at a high rate, he has excelled when asked to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardner didn\u2019t match his lofty statistical output from prior years in 2024, but the Jets cornerback remains one of the league\u2019s elite at his position<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A two-time First-Team All-Pro, the Cincinnati product is the only cornerback in NFL history to earn that honor in each of his first two seasons.<\/p>\n

Even during what some labeled a \u201cdown year,\u201d Gardner led all qualified corners by allowing just 24 receptions and was targeted the second-fewest times in the league.<\/p>\n

With Aaron Glenn at the helm and Steve Wilks slotted as defensive coordinator, the Jets are expected to lean more heavily on press-man coverage behind extra pressure\u2014a scheme that plays directly to Gardner\u2019s strengths.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old has consistently excelled in one-on-one matchups and could be poised for a breakout season in terms of takeaways, an area where production has yet to catch up to his dominance fully.<\/p>\n

Should the takeaways follow, Sauce Gardner\u2019s case as the league\u2019s best cornerback will become undeniable. The New York Jets sure hope that turns out to be the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Do the New York Jets have the best cornerback in the NFL? If you ask Pro Football Focus,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[7,226,1917,255,2321,2097,6,4098,7536],"class_list":{"0":"post-102556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-jets","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-jets","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkjets","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-ny-jets","16":"tag-sauce-gardner"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114623490910701872","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}