Indianapolis Colts cornerback Sauce Gardner has work to do to ascend to the absolute top of the national conversation at his position.
FOX Sports ranked Gardner No. 10 on its list of the NFL’s best cornerbacks entering the 2026 season.
"Gardner hasn’t been able to recreate the highs of his first two NFL seasons," Ben Arthur of FOX Sports writes.
The outlet pointed to Gardner’s first two seasons, when he earned first-team All-Pro honors in both years, while noting that injuries and less dominant play since then have knocked him down the pecking order.
FOX Sports believes Gardner has the physical tools to work his way back into the top-five discussion.
Before his Colts debut last season, Gardner had matched up with No. 1 receivers at the highest rate in the NFL among players with at least 125 such assignments, according to Next Gen Stats. He also forced tight-window throws on 52% of those matchups, the league’s best rate.
Indianapolis paid a massive price for that upside. The Colts sent their 2026 and 2027 first-round picks, plus wide receiver Adonai Mitchell, to the New York Jets for Gardner last November.
Gardner appeared in four games for Indianapolis, with a calf injury cutting his Week 13 outing short and limiting him down the stretch.
If Gardner logs a healthy 2026 season, it will only support the validity of the Colts' big-time trade to get him.
This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: Colts CB Sauce Gardner places No. 10 in NFL cornerback ranking
Leave a Comment