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Following a Week 5 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, the New York Jets fired head coach Robert Saleh. But as Sauce Gardner prepares for the remainder of the season, he won't soon forget his now ex-head coach.
Saleh has been Gardner's lead man his entire career, drafting the cornerback in 2022. Alongside their work together on the field, Gardner noted just how much Saleh meant to him personally, via Kimberly A. Martin of ESPN.
“If I'm being honest, we're doing it for him still,” Gardner said.
Every year Gardner texts Saleh on his birthday just to say he appreciates him. The cornerback says Saleh has, “changed his life.” While they'll no longer be together on the Jets, it seems likely that Gardner will continue sending his yearly texts.
While it's impossible to quantify how much Saleh has helped Gardner as a person, it's clear that their collaboration has made him a better football player. Over his going on three years with the Jets, Sauce has racked up 148 tackles, 33 passes defended and two interceptions. He made the Pro Bowl and was named an All-Pro in his first two seasons of the league. Gardner was also the 2022 Defensive Rookie of the Year.
But for all the success Gardner has had, Robert Saleh and the Jets couldn't replicate it. New York went 20-36 under Saleh, missing the playoffs his first three seasons in charge. While not all of the Jets' problems could be placed on their former head coach, he ended up being the one taking the fall.
But for Sauce Gardner, he'll just have another support from afar. Things haven't looked great for the Jets, but they're still 2-3 on the season. New York will look to move forward under new leadership and try to make a genuine playoff push. Who Gardner and Jets replace Saleh with beyond an interim basis is not yet known.
