The Colts made the blockbuster move of the NFL Trade Deadline on Tuesday afternoon, Jets cornerback Sauce Garder, the two-time Pro Bowl selection and two-time first-team All-Pro who was voted the league’s Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2022.
Here’s what you need to know about the Colts’ newest addition and the deal at-large:
Sauce Gardner is a decorated young cornerback
Gardner, the first-round pick taken fourth-overall by the Jets in 2022, made a major splash as a rookie, nabbing two picks, defending a league-high 20 passes and making 75 tackles, earning first-team All-Pro honors, along with an invitation to the Pro Bowl and being voted the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year.
He earned first-team All-Pro honors and a Pro Bowl selection again in 2023, but his production has steadily decreased on a struggling Jets team that is just 1-7 in 2025. His last interception came a year ago – he didn’t’ register one in 2023.
Sauce Gardner is the NFL’s highest-paid cornerback
This past offseason, Gardner, his agents and the Jets agreed to the richest deal for a cornerback in league history; a four-year, $120.4 million contract that would have tied him to New York through 2030. His average compensation per year – $30.1 million – topped Houston’s Derek Stingley Jr. for the top spot at the position, which Stingley Jr. held for just a couple months.
It’s presently unclear how the Colts and the Jets have structured this year and what salary Gardner’s new team will owe him the rest of this season.
What did the Colts give up for Sauce Gardner
Colts general manager Chris Ballard dealt a pair of first-round picks (for 2026 and 2027), as well as second-year Colts receiver Adonai Mitchell, to New York for the fourth-year corner, IndyStar confirmed.
The move marks just Ballard’s second trade deadline move since he was named the Colts GM in early-2017 – the other coming in 2022 when running back Nyheim Hines in exchange for Bills running back Zack Moss and Day 3 draft capital.
Mitchell was a second-round pick from 2024 who caught 23 balls as a rookie for 312 yards and looked to be primed to take a leap in Year 2 as part of a crowded, talented receiver room. But in the fourth game of the year at the Rams, in the midst of a career game, his premature celebration just before the goal line on what should’ve been a 76-yard touchdown turned into a fumble and a touchback for Los Angeles as Mitchell dropped the ball before crossing the plane.
Later in that game, his holding penalty on what would’ve been a 50-plus yard Jonathan Taylor touchdown run negated an additional score in a game the Colts lost by just seven points. Mitchell received just one target the following game in a blowout win against the Raiders, and he was a healthy scratch in an Oct. 12 victory over the Cardinals.
Since his goal line fumble, Mitchell had been targeted just four times and made just two catches – his last, a seven-yard snag, came in Sunday’s road loss to the Steelers where the Colts threw for 342 yards.
What did Colts GM Chris Ballard say about the deal
Ballard, the long-time Colts general manager, offered this statement on the franchise’s blockbuster trade deadline deal:
“Having the opportunity to acquire a talented player like Sauce Gardner was one we did not want to pass on. He was a player that we scouted heavily coming out of college and there’s a reason he was the fourth overall pick. Sauce is a proven cornerback. His skill and competitive nature will elevate everyone’s play on the defensive unit. We’re thrilled he’s a Colt. On the same note, AD Mitchell is a great person and a great player. We believe he will have success in New York, and we wish him the best as he enters the next chapter of his career.”
IndyStar’s grade on the Colts trade for Sauce Gardner: A
It’s a major roll of the dice for the Colts, who have four former first-round picks of their own among their current starting lineup, as well as quarterback Daniel Jones and DeForest Buckner, who were taken by the Giants and 49ers, respectively, but if you’re Indianapolis and Ballard, it’s the type of move you make when you realize you may be one player away from a possible Super Bowl push in a relatively wide-open AFC.
The loss of Mitchell, as the only team in the league with three pass catchers above 500 yards through Week 9, shouldn’t be felt much, barring injuries to the receiving corps, as a player who’d fallen out of favor with the coaching staff and behind in too crowded a receiving room.
Grade: A
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts NFL trade deadline grade for Sauce Gardner
Reporting by Nathan Brown, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
