Jets CB Look Ahead | ‘Sauce & the D.J.’ Heads to Year 2 After Smashing ’22 Debut

Finished on Injured Reserve: Echols

Finished on Practice Squad: Craig James, Jimmy Moreland

Signed Reserve/Future Contract: James, Moreland

POTENTIAL FREE AGENTS IN ’23

’23: Sauce and the D.J. Part II
Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner and D.J. Reed arrived from different ends of the NFL’s acquisition spectrum and proceeded to meet in the middle and burn brightly as the Jets pass defense hadn’t done since the heyday of Darrelle Revis. Gardner, the fourth pick of the draft, has already received a Pro Bowl nod, an AP All-Pro first-team berth and PFWA Rookie of the Year honors, with AP’s Defensive DROY award not yet presented. Reed, signed as an unrestricted free agent, took a back seat only in number of awards but teamed with Sauce to form a superb CB tagteam combo week in and week out.

“Sauce is the ultimate strainer, him and D.J.,” HC Robert Saleh said before the Vikings game. “They strain and they play very, very hard. … I’ll put our guys up against anybody.”

Gardner, said GM Joe Douglas, whose personnel teams brought both to the Jets in the spring, said of Sauce, “He’s the real deal. There’s nothing fake about his confidence, his toughness, his anything. He’s the genuine article, and I feel like we have quite a few guys on the team that are wired that way. And Sauce is definitely one of them.”

And they’ll be back for a second annual engagement for the ’23 season, along with nickel Michael Carter II. The Jets’ CB position has no players who can become unrestricted or restricted free agents in March.