The Jets have been the laughingstock of the NFL for years, but Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner believes he can change that.
The Cincinnati cornerback was asked about the mocking “Same Old Jets” mantra while on the Rich Eisen Show on Wednesday. Gardner wants to change that narrative — if the Jets draft him on Thursday, of course.
“If I go to a team that said ‘same old anything,’ I’m going to change it,” he said. “If they mean that in a bad way then I feel like I’m the change. I’m a person who’s going to do any and everything so we can win and turn the program around. That’s how I feel about that. I’m not going to come and get used to the norm.”
That final sentence is one the Jets have heard before. Jamal Adams famously told Bleacher Report in 2018 that “everybody was used to losing [within the Jets locker room]” when he joined the team in 2017. Adams failed to change the culture, though, and ended up forcing his way out of town.
The Jets needed a culture-changer, and that’s why Joe Douglas hired Robert Saleh in 2020. Saleh didn’t see a lot of results in Year 1 with a 4-13 record, but a lot of players who joined the Jets over the past two seasons cited Saleh as a major reason for signing with Gang Green.
The hope is that whomever the Jets draft with their two first-round picks — whether it’s Gardner or someone else — will help the team turn a new page.
