Cornerback Sauce Gardner was at his affable best when he playfully took questions from reporters after the Jets' soggy joint practice with the Washington Commanders at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on Thursday.
"It was fun, competitive," he said. "You know it's training camp, so to be able to see a different color jersey, it ups the intensity. We had a good time out there. I had a good time. We all had a good time out there."
So, a good time was had by (nearly) everyone after head coach Robert Saleh, seeing a dark and dank morning, decided that quarterback Aaron Rodgers, out of caution as he comes back from an Achilles tendon injury, would not be a participant.
That, however, did not temper Gardner's enthusiasm.
"I came in today, I was excited, it felt like gameday, all you could ask for," the two-time first team All-Pro cornerback said. "You know that's all you can ask for because you're not going to play much in a preseason game, but you still had the opportunity to line up against another team, so my mindset and everything, it felt like gameday. It really did because y'all know how the weather is at MetLife and in Jersey in general. It rains all game and then when it's over it stops. That's how it was in practice today so it was really a gametime feel, for sure."
There's no telling how long, or even if, Gardner will be in Saturday's preseason opener against Washington come noontime kickoff at MetLife Stadium. The Jets' top draft pick (No. 4 overall) in 2022 has carved out a special place among his teammates and fans over the past two seasons.
Yet, for all the accolades and superlative descriptions of his play, even Saleh wants more. That's exactly what the coach said last Sunday when asked what Gardner could do for an encore.
"The challenge: Catch the ball," Saleh said. "He had a lot of opportunities last year and I think he's up for that challenge."
Gardner embraced that challenge as he acknowledged that his two career interceptions (none last season) are not because opposing quarterbacks are reluctant to throw in his direction.
"I feel I could have had three or four easily [last season]," he said. He added: "Like I said, it don't make it easier facing Aaron in practice. I'm not getting those easy opportunities to pick him off in practice. I have to do extra work outside of that. Aaron is not going to make it easier, he's not going to give me 50/50 balls, he's going to make it like 'I want the receiver to catch the ball and if he can't catch the ball nobody's going to catch the ball.'
"I don't really use the ball not coming my way that much as an excuse because at the end of the day if I was to have four picks last year none of that would matter. If I had four picks that would have been a pretty good year, as a cornerback that's pretty decent. No excuses because they don't throw the ball my way and that's why I had no picks, I could have had a few of them."
Against the Commanders and their rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, Gardner said he let loose with a bit of chatter and then broke up one of Daniels' passes for good measure.
"He's going to be nice," Gardner said. "We were talking out there and he said 'I would have been able to get that throw over anybody but you.' "
Gardner was referring to his leaping breakup of a Daniels pass on fourth down in the situational period that ended practice.
"We were just joking," he said. "You know, those LSU guys, they talk a lot. When we first lined up I was saying, 'He young, he young.' I was just trolling him out there. I just told him, 'Man you're going to be real good,' It was great to just be able to line up against him. As a corner you want to go against a rookie quarterback but he's one of those guys, he's developed. He was drafted that high he had some great throws out there."
