Jets rookie Sauce Gardner believes he can be 'best cornerback that ever played'

Jets rookie cornerback Sauce Gardner is dripping with confidence. The No. 4 overall pick believes he can be the No. 1 cornerback of all time.

“I think I can be great,” he said in an interview with Newsday. “I think I can be the best cornerback that ever played. I’m just going to keep that mentality and I’m going to keep being a student of the game and it will all pay off one day.”

Gardner’s work in his first NFL training camp paid off. On Sunday, Robert Saleh officially named him a Week 1 starter over Bryce Hall. D.J. Reed will be the other starting cornerback.

The 6-3, 200-pound Gardner has the size, length and speed that Saleh wants in his cornerbacks. Gardner also has the mental makeup and work ethic to be a top corner.

His coaches and teammates say Gardner constantly asks questions, trying to learn ways he can improve. They also note how much the competitive Gardner talks overall when he’s on the field.

Saleh said he hasn’t been with a rookie cornerback this vocal since he coached Jalen Ramsey in Jacksonville in 2016.

“He’s still talking five, six years later,” Saleh said. “Deservedly. He’s the best in football.”

Ramsey has made five Pro Bowls and been first-team All-Pro three times. That’s where Gardner wants to get. He has big goals for himself and the Jets.

“I want to be All-Pro, Pro Bowl and I want to win a Super Bowl,” he said. “I don’t want to just go to the playoffs. I feel like going to the playoffs would be easy. I want to win a Super Bowl. I want to be the best teammate I can be and push the rest of my teammates to be the best they can.”

Going to the playoffs would be a big accomplishment for the Jets. They have missed the postseason 11 consecutive seasons, the NFL’s longest current streak. Roster upgrades have them believing a run at the playoffs is possible, and Gardner is one reason why.

When Gardner was at the University of Cincinnati, few quarterbacks threw at him. He didn’t allow a touchdown in three seasons as a Bearcat. In three preseason games, he wasn’t targeted once in 39 snaps.

That will change and he may even let up a touchdown, but his teammates have no doubt that Gardner will have an impact on this team.

“He’s a very smart guy, very instinctive, listens well but also has a lot of confidence,” C.J. Mosley told Newsday. “When he comes on the sideline, when we’re in the building, he’s asking questions, communicating. He’s calling out plays and calling out routes. That’s very good to see from a young guy.

“He’s like the leader of his peers of his rookie class. We’re looking at him, too, because we know we’re going to need him in these big games going against some of these top wide receivers.”

As high as Mosley is on Gardner, he still gives him some rookie hazing. He calls him by his given name, Ahmad. Mosley joked that he won’t call him Sauce until he makes a play in the regular season.

Gardner has been called Sauce since he was a young boy. His youth football coach, Curtez Harris, gave him that nickname because of how he moved and juked defenders as a running back.

Originally, he was called “A1.” Then it became “A1 Sauce Sweet Feet Gardner.” It was shortened to Sauce.

“Ahmad has some sauce to him,” Mosley said, “That’s for sure.”

Perhaps more than Mosley knows.

Gardner has partnered with Buffalo Wild Wings and on Tuesday is launching a new limited-time sauce named after him. It’s called “Sauce Sauce.” Gardner, a fan of barbecue sauce, had input on the flavor.

He described his new sauce as “smoky, sweet and barbecue. It’s just perfect.”

Gardner will be at Buffalo Wild Wings in Wayne, New Jersey, on Thursday night to sign autographs in actual sauce using “a magic pen.”

Preparation is critical in everything Gardner does. When he was in college, he studied video of receivers so he could pick up their tendencies. That helped his coverage area become a no-fly zone.

“I’m 10 steps ahead of the game,” he said. “That’s why that was able to happen.”

Gardner already has started studying receivers he’ll be lined up against. He wants to excel not only for himself but for his teammates. He believes they have a chance because of the “strong brotherhood” the players have formed.

“This team is very special,” Gardner said. Everybody is just buying in. It’s like the closer we get off the field, the better we do when we get on the field because we know who we’re doing it for.

“You think you’re playing hard, but once you get that bond with your teammates, it’s going to go to the next level. The communication is going to go to the next level. The way you play, the physical aspect is going to go to the next level.”

That’s where Gardner wants his game to go, and he’s confident he will get there.

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.