New York Jets Defensive Star Makes Cut for NFL Survivor Squad

The New York Jets have a defensive player that made an elite and unique team put together by a respected online outlet.

Dec 28, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner (1) warms up before the game against the Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium. / Scott Galvin-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Jets have one of the top cornerbacks in Sauce Gardner who enters his third NFL season after a standout career at the University of Cincinnati.

Now, he’s on one of the more unique preseason teams entering this season — CBS Sports’ NFL Survivor Squad.

The premise is much like the survivor pools that fans play in each season. In those pools, each player selects a team to win a game. If the team loses, the player is eliminated. If the team wins, the player moves on — but the player cannot select that team to win again in the season.

This is the fifth year CBS Sports has put the team together. The players selected in the previous four years were not eligible to be selected. For instance, Jets defensive end Quinney Williams was selected at defensive front flex last year. He wasn’t eligible this year, and the site selected the Minnesota Vikings’ Andrew Van Ginkel for the position.

Several other current and former Jets defensive players previously made the team. This time it was Gardner’s turn.

He was selected at outside cornerback along with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Jamel Dean.

The analysis made his selection quite simple:

“We finally found a way to get the NFL’s best cornerback onto the team.”

The Jets selected Gardner No. 4 overall in 2022 after a standout career with the Bearcats, during which he was a three-time all-American Athletic Conference first-team selection and earned consensus All-America honors in 2021, the same season Cincinnati became the first group of five conference champion to make it to the College Football Playoff.

He’s lived up to the selection. He’s already been selected first-team All-Pro and to the Pro Bowl twice.

In his rookie year he started all 17 games and was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. He ended the season with 75 tackles (51 solo), with two interceptions and 20 passes defensed, the last of which led the league.

He was the first rookie cornerback to be named first-team All-Pro since Hall-of-Famer Ronnie Lott in 1981.

Last season he started 16 games and finished with 57 tackles (41 solo) with 11 passes defended and a forced fumble.

The Jets are preparing for their season opener on Sept. 9 when they travel to the bay area to face the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers on Monday night football. The Jets then face the Titans in Tennessee on Sept. 15 before opening the home portion of their schedule on Sept. 19 against New England.