INDIANAPOLIS – One of Colts head coach Shane Steichen’s biggest strengths is staying even-keel in the midst of the chaos that has unfolded as his team is 7-2 and atop the AFC playoff race.
But there are moments when that guard comes down behind closed doors. As he retold Wednesday, he was moved to “pure excitement” 24 hours ago upon learning the top offense in the league would be adding a two-time First-Team All-Pro corner.
New Colts cornerback Sauce Gardner, who general manager Chris Ballard dealt a pair of first-round draft picks plus 2024 second-round wide receiver Adonai Mitchell for Tuesday, hours before the NFL’s trade deadline, has already added an electric spark within Indianapolis’ facility.
“His resume speaks for itself. A Pro Bowler, an All-Pro – to get a guy in the building like that just elevates everybody around us,” Steichen told reporters Wednesday. “He’s an unbelievable player. To get a bona fide No. 1 corner in this league, it elevates everybody around us.
“He’s got all the elite traits you look for. He’s sticky in coverage. The pass break-ups, the interceptions, he’s feisty. He’s impressive. Just to add that to the fold in the back-end of the guys we’ve already got (in the secondary), he’s going to elevate everybody. It’s just a great get by Chris.”
Not to be overlooked, the Colts face an Atlanta Falcons offense Sunday in Berlin with three of the best young skill players in the league – running back Bijan Robinson, receiver Drake London and tight end Kyle Pitts. Following a bye week in Week 11, the Colts will travel to Kansas City to face perennial Super Bowl contenders in the Chiefs, spearheaded by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid.
Gardner remains in concussion protocol, having missed the Jets most recent game in Week 8 – the team’s first win of the year 39-38 over the Bengals. This past week, New York was on its bye, and the Jets coaching staff had already said they expected Gardner to return to the practice field this week and clear the league’s five-step concussion protocol before Sunday.
The Colts expect the same. Steichen said the 25-year-old fourth-year corner will practice Wednesday, with the expectation being Gardner will be ready for the Falcons on Sunday, joining Jaylon Jones, who returned just last Sunday from a debilitating hamstring injury and held Steelers top receiver D.K. Metcalf to just two catches for six yards.
Steichen said Anarumo was “fired up” in learning the news.
“(Lou) is very creative in how he goes about game-planning, week-in and week-out, so adding a player like (Gardner) and all the other stuff he can do and the matchups he can create, it’ll be exciting to watch this week and moving forward,” Steichen said.
“I think his coverage is elite. I think the way he covers receivers one-on-one with how tight he is in coverage and how aggressive he is, he’s long at 6-3, and he can change directions, get on receivers like crazy.”
The expectation, Steichen reiterated to reporters Wednesday, is that the Colts defense will at some point this regular season get its now-second All-Pro corner, 2023 second-teamer Charvarius Ward, back from IR to pair alongside Gardner, making Indianapolis one of just two teams in the league (along with the Cowboys) with a pair of All-Pro players on the corners.
Ward remains on injured reserve following his freak pregame accident before the Colts’ Week 6 game against the Cardinals, when he suffered a concussion following a collision with a teammate on the field in warmups. He will be eligible to return as soon as the Colts’ Week 12 trip to Kansas City.
The opportunity to pair the duo as the Colts prepare for playoff-caliber teams in the back-half of the season, Steichen said, should both give Indianapolis the obvious added firepower in the secondary, while also giving the front-seven more time to wrap up the quarterback or pressure them into errant, risky throws.
“It’s a very difficult. That’s a problem, as an offensive guy. When you look at the defenses around the league, and you have to go up against two elite corners, you’ve got to try and find a way to free up guys, because you know they’re going to be sticky in coverage,” Steichen said. “So it’s great for our football team to have those two guys with the others we have in Jones, (Mekhi) Blackmon and (Kenny) Moore on the backend and (Camryn) Bynum and (Nick) Cross.
“Adding (Gardner) with what we’ve got back there is huge.”
Steichen is not one to bother listening to the “noise” around the Colts – be it the quest to win the franchise’s first AFC South title in 11 years or the prospect of Indianapolis’ first Super Bowl appearance since 2010. But the Colts head coach was firm in his assertion that a high-impact move like the one Ballard pulled off Tuesday should embolden the players and emphasize the belief the front office and team ownership has in the 2025 Indianapolis Colts.
“This is a huge move. We’ve got a lot of belief in our football team, and when you make a move like that, it’s huge. It boosts the confidence of everybody,” he said. “Our football team is in a good spot, and my message to the guys is the same everyday: ‘We’ve got to get better every day and focus on today and not worry about the future.’
“The future will take care of itself. If we worry about the future, it’s going to hurt us in the long run.”
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: What Colts coach Shane Steichen said about adding Sauce Gardner, and the Super Bowl
Reporting by Nathan Brown, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
