JULY 17: Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes Gardner’s locked in compensation includes a $13.75MM signing bonus along with annual workout and roster bonuses (many of which are guaranteed upfront or are set to vest one year early). His base salaries in 2025 ($1.25MM) and ’26 ($5.25MM) are locked in. A $20MM 2026 option bonus is included and is guaranteed in full; the 2027 option bonus ($10MM) is guaranteed for injury and shifts to a full guarantee one year early. The same is true of Gardner’s base salaries for 2027 ($13.95MM) and ’28 ($19.2MM). His pay for the final two years of the pact is not guaranteed.
JULY 15: One day after extending star wide receiver Garrett Wilson, the Jets are signing All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner to a four-year, $120.4MM contract extension, per Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo, and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.
Gardner himself announced on social media that an agreement had been reached. His deal has the same structure as Wilson’s extension, per Schefter.
With a $30.1MM AAV, Gardner is now the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL, beating out the $30MM per year deal signed by fellow 2022 first-rounder Derek Stingley Jr. earlier this year. However, Gardner’s $85.653MM in total guarantees (via ESPN’s Adam Schefter) do not quite reach Stingley’s $89MM.
It will be interesting to see where the full guarantees fall here; Stingley holds that standard — with $48MM — as well. Gardner agreeing to a four-year deal should allow him to eclipse that number, as Stingley is tied to a three-year extension.
The Jets have now spent $250MM in the last two days to lock down cornerstone players on both sides of the ball in a solid start for new head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey. Past offseasons in New York have been marked by quarterback drama and contract standoffs with key veterans, but the new regime avoided such pitfalls by signing Justin Fields early in free agency and getting the Wilson and Gardner extensions done before training camp.
Mougey has now been part of two record-setting cornerback extensions since September. The former Broncos assistant GM was in place when the team inked Patrick Surtain on a then-record $24MM-per-year deal. Despite Surtain’s Defensive Player of the Year season, he has already fallen to fifth in the cornerback pecking order. This effectively illustrates timing, rather than merit, reigns in NFL contract matters. Gardner and Stingley do owe Surtain for breaking through the ice formed over a two-plus-year period in this market.
Prior to Surtain’s agreement, the CB market had not seen anyone top Jaire Alexander‘s four-year, $84MM Packers pact — one agreed to in May 2022. Corners have seen wide receivers move into a higher tax bracket over the past several years, and even safeties — via Antoine Winfield Jr.‘s four-year, $84.1MM accord — had passed them by last year. But Surtain’s contract brought a thaw, and Jalen Ramsey‘s third contract — one already traded — came a day after the standout Broncos defender’s deal emerged.
This offseason then brought Jaycee Horn to the $25MM-per-year level. The Panthers cover man reached that place despite no All-Pro honors (to Surtain’s two). But the salary cap having jumped by another $24MM, after a record $30.6MM spike in 2024, set the stage for an overdue market boom. After all, Ja’Marr Chase elevated the WR ceiling past $40MM per year in March. Stingley and Gardner have made significant inroads for their position, creating a new tier in terms of AAV this year.
Gardner benefited by waiting, and he can perhaps owe that to the Jets changing regimes this offseason. But his rookie-contract play warranted a substantial commitment. The former No. 4 overall pick arrived under Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh‘s watch and played a lead role in vaulting the Jets’ defense — a last-ranked unit in 2021 — to fourth place (in scoring and yardage) in 2022. The physical corner earned first-team All-Pro honors for his work as a rookie, and he matched that showing in 2023.
Pro Football Focus ranked Gardner first and third among CB regulars in 2022 and ’23, respectively, but observed a drop-off in 2024. Although Gardner checked in 31st on the advanced metrics website’s list last year, issues with his tackling were apparent during a season that saw Jeff Ulbrich‘s defense take a step back (20th in points allowed). Gardner saw his yards-per-target number rise from 6.0 to 9.3 from 2023 to ’24 — a non-Pro Bowl season — creating a rebound opportunity under Glenn. But Tuesday’s agreement showed the Jets’ new power brokers did not need to see how Gardner fit into Glenn’s defense before making a historic commitment.
The Jets had never wavered from their plan to pay Gardner, having let D.J. Reed walk in free agency (after extending Michael Carter at the lower slot rate), and the team eyed the post-draft period as the window for true negotiations. Gardner had expressed interest in remaining a Jet long term, and the team had made an offer by mid-June. Although Mougey and Glenn brought in Brandon Stephens at $12MM per annum in March, the team will not let Gardner come close to a contract year. This is now the NFL’s only team with three eight-figure-per-year corners on the payroll.
New York had cooled on paying CBs since its whiffs on Darrelle Revis (the second stint) and Trumaine Johnson. But Gardner’s early-career form meant that pattern needed to end. The team’s chaotic 2024 has preceded a calmer ’25, as Aaron Rodgers is out and news of Woody Johnson meddling has drifted off the front burner. Wilson and Gardner’s paydays signal a willingness to reward Douglas-era draftees, and the moves leave Jermaine Johnson — who is coming off a season-ending injury — as the only member of the Jets’ 2022 first-round trio still on a rookie deal. Post-Rodgers, Wilson and Gardner will be asked to be the franchise’s centerpiece players as it attempts to end the NFL’s longest active playoff drought.
Sam Robinson contributed to this post.
Not sure this will go as planned… from him dating ice spice, to his golf obsession, to being soft on the field. I feel like his priorities are elsewhere.
Yeah ok bro lmao
Surely no good football player has dated a quasi-celebrity and played golf before.
Josh Allen just married a celebrity. Are you worried about his priorities?
Bills fan here. Not only did he do that, he also played in a golf tourney last weekend. His career is over, I tell ya!
Sorry for your loss. He was awfully good while he lasted.
Oh no!!!
Soft on the field?
LFG!! I like both of these extensions. Just gotta get a different QB and I’ll be a happy camper
“Just”…
Yes
Yea, piece of cake. So much further than a QB away.
Ok BlackSundayz
Yes. They were. That was addressed with letting Rodgers go and replacing the interim coach. The team didn’t lack talent, they lacked leadership.
Jets players getting BANK
Overrated
lmao
By what metric?
His own head
Great. Smart to come in, lock up the young cornerstone players before there can be drama, and figure things out from there. Adding $100k to Stingley’s deal is about the least painful level of meeting the market where it is. If their two young OTs pan out, combining that with Quinnen, Sauce, and Wilson is a nice young core (though obviously in need of a quarterback).
Yeah QB is where this team is going to be held back. Not sure what plan they even have going forward. I think theyll win too many games to land someone like Arch but not enough games to feel confident in Fields.
Sounds about right. They also really need to do some rebuilding in their pass catching and defensive line groups, but I’m cautiously optimistic about the offensive line, which is a nice feeling I haven’t had in a long time.
Yeah but with GW locked up one draft can turn around the receiving group honestly. But for the immediate future its very thin. We’ve sunk so much high value picks into the line (3 1sts and a 2nd) so they better do well
Hopefully Mason Taylor comes along. That’ll help a lot.
Don’t forget the the top 15 pick on Mehki Becton. So 4 1s and a 2.
Haha trust me i didnt forget, i just meant whats currently on our line
I think Smith is going to contribute for them. You can’t teach that speed, and his QB play was pretty mediocre in college. People forget that Fields started at Georgia and is familiar with him because they were in the same incoming class just like he is with Wilson from their days at Ohio State.
You can’t teach speed but you can rarely fix drops. I think Smith was a reach, but I’d love to be wrong.
“It’s all about the QB” = Dumb Jock Logic to the max! When you go Baltimore style, other positions can be just as impactful if not more.
No one here said it’s all about the QB and Baltimore has a top five QB.
And theres nothing to suggest Jets are gonna just run all of Baltimores schemes lol
Baltimore style = run the ball and play defense. The real story of the last Super Bowl was how great the Eagles were on defense.
“Baltimore style = run the ball and play defense.”
Pretty reductive “style” for a team with a literal two-time MVP at QB. Jackson had 41 TDs, over 4,000 yards, and only four INT last year. Baltimore is an all-around great team. Don’t diminish their passing game because the Jets don’t have a QB.
lol dont try to reason with him, hes gonna act like its the Jets’ master plan to have a bad QB
Either they’ll be right or wrong. From the start, it seems like Glenn and his OC targeted Fields to create an offense around his skill set like should have happened in Chicago instead of trying to run a set system that the hired OC was familiar with. I’m guessing that was part of their pitch to him in FA. I said his rookie year, that staff should have put the Cam Newton tape on and gone from there. So it pays off big, or it’s a train wreck where everyone wants Glenn fired by November.
They didnt target Fields. No one targets Fields. Its simply who they could reasonably obtain
Can’t tackle for his life
Its a skinny lanky CB not a LB or safety. Hes there to prevent the WR from getting the ball in the first place not to stop a full speed Trey McBride so this is a non issue
Nice to see the Jets committing to their future by locking up Wilson and Sauce.
.you word. i wonder what gonzalez’s contract is going to be like next year.
Sauce or Stingley?
(Stingley)
Sauce
Jets are gonna do Jets things…lately, some good things.
For 3 career interceptions?
Hard to get many picks when QBs are avoiding you for good reason.
You can add 41 passes defended and 181 tackles to that stat list.
That’s a lot of passes defended and tackles for someone who doesn’t get the ball thrown his way.
Just say you know nothing about football and leave it at that.
Lol you just love to show how little you know about football huh DDC
DDC doesn’t know anything about any sport.
I see the jets fans are out here in full force sounding like Cowboy fans.
Bring your hate, it’s fine. Calls em like I sees em.
No one cares bro
You must bro.
$120.4MM buys A LOT OF SAUCE !!
By the time the Jets are half way decent, these 2 contracts will have expired.
“Holding, Defense, Number One”.