The Colts have been among the NFL’s top surprises throughout the first nine weeks of the 2025 season, beginning the year 7–2 and sitting atop the AFC standing.
Behind a career resurgence from quarterback Daniel Jones, who leads the NFL in passing yards, and MVP-caliber play from running back Jonathan Taylor, the league’s rushing leader, Indianapolis boasts the NFL’s highest-scoring offense (32.2 points per game) and ranks second in yards gained (383.3 per game).
Defensively, however, the Colts sit closer to the middle of the pack. Through nine games, they’ve allowed 331.8 yards per game (17th most) and, more specifically, 244.8 passing yards per game—the seventh-most in the NFL. That’s in part why the team made arguably the biggest splash at the NFL trade deadline this week: Acquiring All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner from the Jets.
As told by Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, Indianapolis had been working the phones to acquire secondary help after losing Charvarius Ward to a concussion last month. The search turned into a conversation between Colts assistant general manager Ed Dodds and Jets GM Darren Mougey that indicated New York would listen to offers on anyone amid their 1–7 start to the year. GM Chris Ballard was then looped in on the matter, and the team worked to put together a package for Gardner, one of the league's top defensive backs.
How Carlie Irsay-Gordon motivated Colts to get Sauce Gardner trade completed
Among the many aspects that drove the Colts' deal for Gardner across the finish line was Ballard bringing the potential move to owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon. The 45-year-old—who has frequently been seen pacing Indianapolis’s sidelines in a headset since taking over as the team's principal owner and CEO following her father Jim Irsay’s death this past May—asked the GM a simple question:
“Do you want to Band-Aid it, or fix it for the long term?”
Needless to say, Irsay-Gordon was on board with Ballard & Co.’s idea to swing big. On Tuesday morning, the two sides finalized a blockbuster that sent Gardner from New York to Indianapolis in exchange for the Colts’ next 2026 and '27 first-round picks, and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell.
Gardner, mere months removed from signing a four-year, $120 million contract extension, touched ground in Indy this week and has cleared concussion protocol, setting him up to make his Colts debut this coming Sunday against the Falcons in Berlin.
Check out the rest of Breer’s story for more details about the Sauce Gardner trade and the deal that sent Quinnen Williams to the Cowboys.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Carlie Irsay-Gordon’s Simple Message That Pushed Colts to Trade for Sauce Gardner.
