The 2025 Indianapolis Colts have been a juggernaut of an NFL team this year. They have a 7-2 record and have surprised almost everyone with their play. By the trade deadline, the Colts got active and traded for Sauce Gardner to bolster their secondary for the second half of the NFL season. It was a massive move for the Colts to make by the deadline and immediately improve their defense.
ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter was on “The Pat McAfee Show” and reported that the Colts and the Jets have been discussing a potential deal for the last few weeks. Schefter said that after talking to someone in Indy, they said they needed some luck to pull the deal off, but they got it done. The Jets are in rebuilding mode and getting picks, and the Colts are trying to maximize their current window of opportunity to win.
Schefter clarified what he was hearing from both sides when he said, “I got a text from somebody in Indy that said, ‘We need a four-leaf clover. You need a little bit of luck to make this happen.’ So obviously they felt like the luck kicked in and were able to get it done. Now the conversations between the Jets and the Colts had been going on for weeks, weeks. And they went until the trade deadline today.”
Sauce Gardner signed a four-year, $120.4 million contract extension with the New York Jets during the past offseason. The fact that New York decided to move him after he signed that massive contract is huge.
The Jets received a giant haul in return with a 2026 first-round pick, a 2027 first-round pick, and AD Mitchell at wide receiver. The Jets need all the assets they can get if they are rebuilding, including a new quarterback after they benched Justin Fields.
As big a deal as this is, with the Colts sending two first-round picks for Gardner, the fact that the two sides kept this deal relatively quiet deserves credit on both ends. Gardner is under contract through the 2030 season, meaning the Colts will have him through the rest of his prime. Separating with two first-round picks becomes easier with the team controlling his contract for that long.
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