Colts trade for CB Sauce Gardner

[YDFL Commish]

Good stuff!

[YDFL Commish]

I like my "Sauce" blue!

[BCN#1]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

I like my "Sauce" blue!

Methinks he will become our "Special Sauce".

[sherck]

Originally Posted by BCN#1

Methinks he will become our "Special Sauce".

Hmmm, I prefer "Super (Bowl) Sauce!"

[CletusPyle]

So is Sauce in Berlin?

[Kray007]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

I get that it’s a steep price but the dude is a 2 time all pro at a premium position who’s only 25 years old. And he’s under contract through 2030, i believe.

You HAVE to make that trade, especially considering only 10 percent of first round picks ever make all pro.

To me it’s a no brainer.

If it was Bill Polian whose history of picking in the second and third rounds rings with names like Pathon and Peterson, Washington and Bashir, Triplett and Doss, Hartsock and Hayden, Ugoh and Pollak, Moala, Angerer, and Ijalana, I’d worry more. But, when Chris Ballard shakes that same tree, guys like Jonathan Taylor, Alec Pierce, Darius Leonard, Braden Smith, Josh Downs, Bernard Raimann, Nick Cross, Bobby Okereke, and Michael Pittman drop off, so I don’t worry so much.

[Discflinger]

Raimen makes me sure that the crowd will be about the shoe.

[apballin]

So apparently his age has been listed wrong and he’s actually 24 years old

[Colts And Orioles]

Originally Posted by apballin

So apparently his age has been listed wrong, and he’s actually 24 years-old.

o


Wait, How Old Is Sauce Gardner ??? Colts CB Clears up Confusion About His Age

(By James Boyd)

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/736...hdate-mystery/




INDIANAPOLIS — Sauce Gardner is used to playing lockdown defense. But having to defend his age is not a match-up that the Indianapolis Colts cornerback envisioned 5 years into his NFL career.

“I’m 24 !!!” Gardner said on the last day of Colts minicamp, laughing as he shook his head. “It’s crazy that I’m even being asked this.”

Is he sure ???

“Yes !!!” the 2-time, 1st-team All-Pro said. “You can ask my mom !!!”

Gardner was born Aug. 31st of 2001, a date that he swears that he’s listed on every official document since starring at the University of Cincinnati, being drafted by the New York Jets, and eventually being traded to the Indianapolis Colts. His driver’s license confirms his age, he says. His passport does, too, the Colts confirmed.

So, why, as he enters his 5th year in the NFL, does a large segment of the internet believe that he was born in 2000 ???

ESPN.com lists Gardner’s birthday as Aug. 31st of 2000, one year earlier than the date on his passport. Pro Football Reference, a website widely considered to be one of the most reputable in professional sports research, also lists him as being born in 2000. So did The Athletic’s 2022 NFL Draft guide.

Even EA Sports’ Madden NFL has Gardner’s birthday as Aug. 31st of 2000. But when he’s playing the game, he’s usually looking at his rating, not his age.

“It’s wrong in Madden, too ??? That’s crazy, because I never checked,” Gardner said after he was notified. “Because when it comes to the paperwork and everything that I’ve ever signed, it all says that I was born in 2001. So I don’t know where or how it got messed up, unless people just get it straight from Google.”

That could be part of the problem.

Until The Athletic recently raised public questions about Gardner’s age by sharing a video of one of his off-season training sessions, Wikipedia listed him as 25 rather than 24. Therefore, for most people, the first response that they would receive via a Google search about Gardner’s age would be accompanied by Wikipedia’s assertion that he was born in 2000.

Gardner’s Wikipedia page has since been corrected ...... well, kind of. In the “personal information” section, Gardner is listed as being born in 2001, but in the “early life” section of the Wikipedia bio, his birthdate still appears as August 31st of 2000. One website, 2 ages ...... lots of confusion.

In an effort to solve the mystery of Gardner’s birthdate mix-up, we reached out to several places that listed his birth year as 2000 rather than 2001 to determine how the discrepancy originated.

For our draft guide, our writer typically verifies birthdates with the school the prospect attended via their roster, player page, or media guide. If it’s not listed, as seems to be the case with Cincinnati, he asks the player, the player’s agent, or an NFL team what they have on file.

A representative from Sports Reference, which operates Pro Football-Reference, said that the site reviews a school’s media guide before seeking consensus among reputable sources, including ESPN and Fox Sports.

The representative also pointed out that even the NFL’s 2025 Record and Fact Book lists Gardner’s birthday as 2000.

Despite all the responses we received to our inquiries, we still don’t know exactly where this mix-up started.

For years, the only place that listed Gardner’s year of birth as 2001 was NFL.com. Amid several discrepancies elsewhere, Gardner said that it’s never been a mystery to the teams that he’s played for.

“Clubs notify us of any incorrect birthdates that would have appeared on their college sites when a player signs,” NFL chief spokesman Brian McCarthy told The Athletic via email. “Players also self-verify their birthdates and other personal information through a player portal.”

Although Gardner’s birthdate is not listed in his Cincinnati bio and the school did not respond to The Athletic’s inquiries, he confirmed that his alma mater knew his correct age all along.

That isn’t always the case. In a similar situation in the NBA, 3-point specialist Buddy Hield was in his 3rd season with the Sacramento Kings when he publicly celebrated his 26th birthday. The issue is that the Kings, and just about everyone else, thought that Hield was 25. He was even listed as 25 on the Kings’ and NBA’s official websites.

“That’s their fault, not my fault,” Hield later told NBC Sports. “The first time that I saw it on Wikipedia, my mom said, ‘Why do they have your age wrong ???’ I said, ‘I have no idea.'”

Gardner, like Hield, was glad to clear the air. He said that he can see the humor in what many people may view as a trivial mix-up. Still, he also noted that cornerbacks’ ages can be a touchy subject since their position doesn’t always age as gracefully as others.

“You can’t believe everything that you see on the internet,” Gardner said, laughing as he repeated an age-old adage ...... “you just can’t.”

What’s more, Gardner acknowledged that he’s under an even bigger microscope than most cornerbacks since the Colts gave up 2 1st-round picks and wide receiver AD Mitchell to acquire him. The expectations for his 2026 campaign are high, and they’ll stay that way throughout his Colts tenure.

Gardner welcomes the pressure and the responsibility as he assumes a larger leadership role. In fact, he has never been a team captain in the NFL, but as the years go by and he’s transitioned from being a naïve youngster asking a bunch of questions to a “still young” but established veteran on the receiving end of those inquiries, earning a "C" on his chest has become a priority, among others.

“All-Pro, Pro Bowl, all of that good stuff,” Gardner said as he rattled off the rest of his individual goals. “Team goals ??? That would be just getting to the playoffs, because that’s one thing that I haven’t done ...... and getting a ’chip.”

o