Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner‘s first NFL season ended with a defensive rookie of the year award and a spot on the All-Pro team, but he’s not looking for a repeat in 2023.
Gardner said this week that he “can’t get complacent” when it comes to trying to get better in his second season. One thing he believes will be a boost to that effort is the arrival of quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers schooled Gardner on some celebrity knowledge he’s gained over the years while the duo took in a Knicks game earlier this week and Gardner said the quarterback has also shared some plans for how he can help Gardner improve as a player.
“I knew he was going to get me better, and by that I was just thinking of him making those tough throws that it’s going to be hard for me to intercept and break up,” Gardner said, via Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post. “But he was just telling me that he is going to be able to help me out [by] telling me how teams are going to try to attack me and the things that I can work on as a cornerback. . . . He was telling me he has the secret gems he can give me. Hearing that made me respect him even more. I wasn’t expecting that, but now I’m looking forward to sitting down and watching film and telling him what we’re trying to do and he can tell us what they’re trying to do on offense.”
Rodgers wasn’t acquired to boost the defense, but the Jets won’t mind it at all if his presence winds up boosting their productivity on both sides of the ball.