Sauce Gardner has been waiting for days like Sunday.
The Jets rookie cornerback will get another test when he lines up against Dolphins receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
“This is what I dreamed about coming to the NFL,” Gardner said. “The goals that I have for myself like Rookie of the Year, All-Pro, Pro Bowl, all that type of stuff, I’ve got to go against guys like that in order to be recognized. It’s a great opportunity. Me and D.J. [Reed] and the rest of the secondary was talking about it. It’s a great opportunity to show the world what we can do.”
Hill enters this week as the leading receiver in the NFL with 477 yards. Waddle is not far behind at 381 yards and the duo has combined for five touchdowns.
The Jets secondary has already faced some good receivers like the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase and the Browns’ Amari Cooper, but Hill and Waddle are a combination like the Jets have not seen yet this season.
“It’s a tremendous challenge because of the amount of stress they put on you vertically and horizontally,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “It’s a challenge, a challenge we’re excited for. We’ll see.”
Waddle did not participate in practice on Wednesday because of a groin injury, so that is a situation that bears watching.
Gardner has lived up to the hype he had coming out of Cincinnati. The No. 4-overall pick has stood out in coverage and has been a reliable tackler. Gardner has given up nine catches on 19 targets for 101 yards and one touchdown in his first four games, according to PFF.
“Decent,” Gardner said when asked how he has played so far. “I can always do better. I feel like I’ve played pretty well so far.”
Saleh was more effusive in his praise of the rookie.
“He’s got this mindset like, ‘All right, I may have screwed that one up, but you still got lucky, you didn’t get that on me,’ ” Saleh said. “That’s his mindset. I love where he’s at, he’s growing every day, and like I said, he’s only going to get better and eventually, where he won’t need communication because he’s just going to know immediately and he’s going to do the communicating. So, he’s a special one.”
The Jets don’t usually have their cornerbacks travel. They usually play sides. So Hill should face Gardner, Reed and slot corner Michael Carter II. Gardner’s strength is his size at 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds. Hill is going to test his speed.
“I went against guys that was fast like Jameson Williams from Bama. He was fast,” Gardner said. “I ain’t saying he’s Tyreek Hill fast, but I’ve got certain things that I like to do so I can be able to hang with guys like that.”
For Gardner, he wants to face players like Hill to prove himself.
“I went against a lot of guys like Amari Cooper and Ja’Marr Chase but I just want to keep stacking those weeks and keep going against the best of the best,” he said.
Saleh said Gardner has done fine with picking up the defense and handling the mental aspect of the game, which is something that sometimes hinders rookies. Gardner had one miscommunication in the Browns game that resulted in a touchdown, but overall Saleh is happy with Gardner’s progress.
“He’s doing fine,” Saleh said. “There’s a couple [of mistakes] here and there, but you expect it. There’s a lot of things happening. You can go on the flip side, it happens to the veterans too, Cleveland on that one, not to disrespect or going to their backyard, but on that touchdown for Corey (Davis), there’s a miscommunication and you had one guy playing one defense, and the other guys are playing another. So, it happens, you just hope you don’t get caught when it happens.”
