New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner has only been in the NFL for two seasons, but he has already established himself as arguably the best player in the league at his position. The No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, Gardner has a Defensive Rookie of the Year trophy, as well as two selections to both the Pro Bowl and the All-Pro first team, to his name.
So it's safe to say he knows a little bit about what it takes to succeed early on in your NFL career. And after participating in joint practices with the Washington Commanders this week, Gardner sees exactly that for rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.
"I just told him like, 'Man, you're gonna be real good,' Gardner said, via the Commanders' official website. "It was great to just be able to line up against him. As a corner, you wanna go against a rookie quarterback, but he's one of those guys like he's developed obviously ... but he had some great throws out there."
The No. 2 overall pick in this year's draft class, Daniels is coming off a senior season at LSU where he completed 72.2% of his passes at an outrageous 11.7 yards per attempt average, with 40 touchdown tosses against just four interceptions, while also rushing for 1,134 yards and 10 more scores.
The Commanders are clearly hoping he can give a boost to what has been a below-average offense in recent seasons, and that new offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury can tap into his vast skill set to challenge defenses all over the field. Very few quarterbacks are willing to challenge Gardner, of course, but the All-Pro still came away impressed with what he saw from Daniels this week.