dailyloe.com – Two-time All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner says he feels no added pressure as the Indianapolis Colts enter the 2026 NFL Draft without a first-round pick. The Colts sent their first-rounder this year and next to the New York Jets last season to acquire Gardner. Gardner lost several games to a calf injury during his debut season with Indianapolis.
“I’m the first-round pick — I’m the first-round pick two times,” Gardner said this week, via the Indianapolis Star’s Nathan Brown. “We’re gonna get our money. We’re gonna do our thing on defense, especially, but the whole team is gonna do our thing. There’s no pressure.”
Gardner was selected fourth overall in the 2022 NFL Draft by the Jets. He won AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and earned All-Pro and Pro Bowl selections in each of his first two seasons. After signing a massive second contract with the rebuilding Jets, he was traded to the Colts last season for two first-round picks.
Gardner played only three games for the Colts before his calf injury troubled him. He returned for Week 17 and aggravated the injury. Gardner offered a cryptic explanation for the injury, attributing it to karma.
“When it happened, there was something I did that I shouldn’t have did,” Gardner said. “Not a huge deal, but I had just picked up a phone call I shouldn’t have picked up, and then the next day that happened. I’m dead serious, that is truly I feel why I got injured. I picked up a phone call I shouldn’t have answered. It was unfortunate, but I know how I’ve gotta live and the decisions I’ve got to make now.”
Gardner confirmed he is now fully healthy. “I’m definitely fully healthy,” he said. The 2026 NFL Draft is set to kick off in Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
