{"id":723220,"date":"2026-02-02T06:54:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T06:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/723220\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T06:54:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T06:54:52","slug":"chris-ballard-evaluates-colts-decision-to-trade-for-cb-sauce-gardner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/723220\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Ballard evaluates Colts&#8217; decision to trade for CB Sauce Gardner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jan. 8, 2026, 1:54 p.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">If given the opportunity to trade for cornerback Sauce Gardner again, <a href=\"\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Indianapolis Colts<\/a> GM Chris Ballard said he would still make that deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;I would still do the move again today,&#8221; said Ballard on Thursday. &#8220;Those guys are not easy to find.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Prior to the trade deadline, the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/indianapolis-colts\/338\" data-autotag=\"d3fda36a-3eb5-4700-8763-caba831c06ae\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Colts<\/a> traded two first-round draft picks and wide receiver AD Mitchell to the New York Jets in return for Gardner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Some of the factors behind Ballard&#8217;s decision to make this trade include Gardner being just 24 years old and he&#8217;s already an accomplished player as a former All-Pro and Pro Bowler.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Gardner&#8217;s contract was a part of that equation as well. For 2026, his cap hit is still just <a href=\"https:\/\/overthecap.com\/player\/ahmad-gardner\/10049\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">$9.5 million<\/a>. It jumps to $20.9 million in 2027. Gardner is also under contract with the Colts through the 2030 season.<\/p>\n<p>Expert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/picks\">Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;You&#8217;re talking about a premier guy, who&#8217;s been to Pro Bowls, he&#8217;s 24 years old, and the contract was we thought advantageous to acquire,&#8221; Ballard said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Ballard said that pairing Gardner with Charvarius Ward would have given the Colts two top cornerbacks, which would have freed up the rest of the defense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">A calf injury limited Gardner to only four games with the Colts, but when on the field, he played at a high level.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">In those games, Gardner allowed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pff.com\/\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">completion rate<\/a> of 54%, giving up just 7.3 yards per catch, with three pass breakups. His presence on the field also changed how Lou Anarumo called games, allowing the Colts&#8217; defensive coordinator to be much more aggressive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;Sauce has got a really bright future and he&#8217;s going to be a core piece for us for a while,&#8221; said Ballard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Without their first-round pick in this year&#8217;s draft, the Colts currently have five selections. Their first pick will come in the second round at pick No. 47 overall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;It does put a premium on making sure those second, third, fourth round picks end up being really good,&#8221; Ballard said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 8, 2026, 1:54 p.m. ET If given the opportunity to trade for cornerback Sauce Gardner again, Indianapolis&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":723221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[95878,2005,7,2004,392,2381,6,49915,95900,95882,97539,95903,95895,95906,96176,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-723220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-colts","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-indianapolis","12":"tag-indianapolis-colts","13":"tag-indianapoliscolts","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflcolts","16":"tag-sstsncolts","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagcharvarius-ward","19":"tag-tagindianapolis-colts","20":"tag-tagnfl-hub","21":"tag-tagoverall-positive","22":"tag-tagsauce-gardner","23":"tag-tagsports-news","24":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115999730802572059","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723220","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=723220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}