1. Some historical context on the Colts' trade for Sauce Gardner.
The Colts sending two first-round picks and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell to the New York Jets in exchange for cornerback Sauce Gardner might feel like the biggest trade in Colts history; from a pure "we're going for it" standpoint, it very well might be.
It's also the first time in franchise history the Colts have traded multiple first round picks for a player. In 1987, the Colts traded a first-round pick and two second-round picks, as well as two players, as part of a three-team trade to acquire future Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson.
The most recent Colts trade involving a first-round pick came in 2020, when the Colts sent the No. 13 overall pick to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for defensive tackle DeForest Buckner.
The Colts have received multiple first-round picks in trades before; in 1994, the Colts sent quarterback Jeff George to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for two first-round picks and a third-round pick. In 1983, a standoff with No. 1 overall pick John Elway ended a few days after the NFL Draft when the Baltimore Colts traded him to the Denver Broncos in exchange for offensive lineman Chris Hinton (Denver's No. 1 pick in 1983), the Broncos' first-round pick in 1984 and quarterback Mark Hermann.
The last time a cornerback was acquired in a trade involving two first-round picks was during the 2019 season, when the Los Angeles Rams sent two first-round picks and a fourth-round pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for Jalen Ramsey, who went on to earn first-team AP All-Pro honors in 2020 and 2021 with the Rams.
2. Two things to remember with Gardner.
First: He's 25 years old.
Gardner is one of a dozen cornerbacks in NFL history to earn multiple first-team AP All-Pro honors before turning 26; the modern names Gardner is joined by are Pat Surtain II, Patrick Peterson, Richard Sherman and Rod Woodson. The Colts made this move to help win in 2025, certainly, but Gardner is not here just to give the Colts a shot over the next few months. Gardner is still very much in the prime of his career, and will be for some time.
The second thing: He just signed a contract extension in July.
"On top of being an All-Pro cornerback, he is an exceptional teammate and a tremendous competitor who is all about winning," Jets general manager Darren Mougey said while announcing the Gardner extension.
With Gardner's contract already set up for the foreseeable future, the Colts can plan around it – key for whatever roster-building moves general manager Chris Ballard makes moving forward.
3. So how does Gardner fit with the Colts' secondary?
There's more to this than what's obvious, which is: The Colts got a good player to add to a secondary that has several good players.
Over seven games with the Jets this season, Gardner lined up in a press look and played man coverage on 60 snaps. He was targeted just seven times, allowing four completions for 57 yards with two pass break-ups.
In Gardner's career, he's played 382 snaps in press man coverage, per Pro Football Focus, and has been targeted just 52 times (once every seven snaps, roughly), allowing 20 receptions for 274 yards (0.72 yards per coverage snap). He has not allowed a touchdown while in press man coverage and has held quarterbacks to a passer rating of 56.1 when targeting him.
That's the starting point here: Gardner is a lock-down cornerback when showing a press look and playing man coverage.
The Colts in 2025 have played the 11th-most defensive snaps with a cornerback in press-man coverage and are 10th in EPA allowed per pass and eighth in success rate per pass allowed on those snaps. Adding Gardner to the mix should allow defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo to lean into those coverages even more, which in turn should allow Anarumo to deploy even more complex and funky coverage looks, especially once Gardner and fellow outside cornerback Charvarius Ward Sr. – who can be activated off injured reserve ahead of the Colts' Week 12 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs – begin playing together.
4. Gardner can impact the Colts' pass rush, too.
Rush and coverage work hand-in-hand, and preventing quick throws – which Gardner can do when playing tight coverage – is a way to help a pass rush. The Colts' pass rush has faced the third-most snaps on which an opposing quarterback has thrown within two seconds of receiving the snap; those are plays on which it's difficult to generate pressure.
But the Colts' defense could also see improvements when quarterbacks have to hold the ball longer thanks to what Gardner can bring in coverage. The Colts are 25th in success rate allowed when quarterbacks take 2.6 seconds or more to throw (39.3 percent); they lead the NFL with 169 plays on which opponents had at least one "open" receiver, per Pro Football Focus, when quarterbacks took 2.6+ seconds to throw.
Diminishing that number should help the Colts' pass rush get home more frequently – or, when they do generate pressure, allow Gardner and the Colts' secondary to make a play on the ball.
The good news here is the Colts enter Week 10 with 26 sacks, tied for sixth-most in the NFL.
5. The message this sends.
All you have to do is go on social media to see Colts players celebrating Tuesday's trade for Gardner to realize this: The 2025 Colts, collectively, understand the message sent by Ballard in trading for Gardner.
The Colts will hop on a plane to Berlin this week to face the Atlanta Falcons; a win sends them into their bye week with an 8-2 record. Even with Sunday's 27-20 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Colts' +109 point differential is easily the highest in the NFL. At 7-2, they're tied for the best record in the NFL with the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots. And now they have Gardner, a two-time AP All-Pro who's regarded as one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL.
Let's see where this all can take the Colts through the rest of the 2025 season.
