Sauce Gardner makes his feelings known heading into contract year after Derek Stingley Jr's $90,000,000 extension 

New York Jets star cornerback Sauce Gardner is a true shutdown defensive player in the league. Although he struggled with injuries in 2024 and missed a few games, Gardner has proven since entering the league that he is one of the best defensive backs in all of football when healthy.

Throughout his three-year NFL career so far, Gardner has 181 total tackles, 128 solo tackles, one sack, one forced fumble and three interceptions.

However, Gardner is at an important point in his career as he enters the final season of the rookie contract he signed in 2022. Although he has a club option for the 2026 campaign, other cornerbacks from his draft class have started signing long-term, lucrative deals this offseason. For example, Derek Stingley Jr. reset the cornerback market when he signed a $90 million deal this year.

As a result, Gardner was asked about his current contract situation during an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" on Wednesday. Instead of discussing the dollar amount he is seeking, Gardner outlined how he is feeling heading into the 2025 season.

"I'm not gonna lie. Like this offseason has been like, by far my best off season. I just left LA from training with my trainer... I feel great. You know, I'm sitting about 200 pounds right now, and I don't think I've ever really played that heavy, but it's like, the more weight that I done put on, the more muscle, like, the more explosive, and the faster I'd be I've become," Gardner said.

What could Sauce Gardner's next contract look like?

According to Spotrac, Gardner's current market value is a three-year deal worth $64,980,795. Should he receive this contract, he would earn an average annual value of approximately $21.7 million.

That deal would place Gardner as the No. 5 highest-paid cornerback in the league, behind Houston Texans’ Derek Stingley Jr. ($30 million per year), Carolina Panthers’ Jaycee Horn ($25 million per year), Pittsburgh Steelers’ Jalen Ramsey ($24.1 million per year) and Denver Broncos’ Patrick Surtain II ($24 million per year).