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INDIANAPOLIS — He has never been sauced.
Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner was nicknamed by a Little League coach at 6 years old because of his swagger. “Sauce” has become a big part of his identity — including a flashy necklace bearing the word — but it isn’t related to an affinity for dipping sauces and certainly doesn’t stem from a late-night buzz, because the Cincinnati cornerback, a projected top-10 pick in the NFL draft, said he is not a smoker or a drinker.
“Never have, never will,” Gardner said Saturday at the NFL Combine. “We won [AAC conference] championships, they bring the cigars out, never even had a little cigar to have fun. I’m just a guy with intrinsic motivation. I’ll just naturally be turned up. After we get a win, I’ll naturally be excited. I don’t need anything to make me feel some type of way.”
Gardner, 21, is a consensus top-two cornerback in the draft. Four of the first 10 picks are headed to New York, including two (Nos. 5 and No. 7) that would bring Gardner to a seemingly perfect fit in Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale’s blitz-heavy, man-to-man coverage scheme. Gardner played 851 snaps in press coverage during his college career with the Bearcats, according to Pro Football Focus.
“I love being left on an island,” Gardner said. “I don’t have to worry about anybody else but my man. … I feel like I can eliminate the best receiver on the field.”
Gardner allowed just 13 catches for 171 yards last season and did not surrender a touchdown reception in 33 career games. How is he going to react when he inevitably allows a score early in his NFL career?
“I don’t have plans on giving one up,” Gardner said. “But I’m not a guy to dwell on the last play. As a cornerback, you have to have short-term memory. That’s the only disorder I have: short-term memory loss.”
Scouts and coaches haven’t forgotten how Gardner answered critics of Cincinnati’s competition level in the American Athletic Conference: He allowed one catch for minus-2 yards on two targets against Alabama’s deep threat Jameson Williams in the College Football Playoff semifinal.
So maybe there’s a new definition of “sauced” — leaving opposing receivers empty-handed.
“My personal meaning is a level of confidence. When I’m on and off the field, I make sure I’ve got the sauce. That just keeps me going,” Gardner said. “When I’m in my little calm mood, it’s just me being Ahmad. The Sauce is within me, so I’m always Sauce. I have to know when to flip the switch up and turn the switch off.”
The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder combines a long and lanky frame and a hands-on style at the line of scrimmage with potential 4.4-second speed to be measured Sunday in the 40-yard dash. If there’s a concern about Gardner’s game translating to the NFL, it’s that he might be called for too many holding penalties when given less leeway by league officials. The focus of his pre-draft training is improved footwork.
“I truly believe I’m the best cornerback,” said Gardner, whose competition as top cornerback drafted is LSU’s Derek Stingley Jr. “I just watch a lot of film, work on my technique, study receivers, work unrequired hours and do things when nobody is watching. That all translates when the lights come up.”
The lights are brightest in New York. The Giants’ need for Gardner could increase exponentially in the next two weeks, if Pro Bowl cornerback James Bradberry is traded to save $12.1 million against a tight salary cap before free agency.
Gardner could end the Giants’ recent bad run with first-round cornerback busts Eli Apple and DeAndre Baker. And the cornerback-needy Jets pick at No. 4 and No. 10. He has other options, too.
One way or another, Gardner is about to sign a big contract and fulfill a childhood promise to his mother, who recently retired from her factory job at her son’s urging.
“Growing up in Detroit, I didn’t really have anything,” Gardner said. “What I did have was a mother who made the impossible possible. … When I wanted her to pay for football camps, I always told her, ‘Mom, c’mon, I just want to be able to show the coaches what I can do.’ She always ended up paying for it so I could showcase my talent, and it got me here.”
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