Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner Is The Best Corner And Second Best Defensive Back In This Years Draft
The Bearcats defensive back will make an NFL team very happy.
The Cincinnati Bearcats had the best cornerback tandem in all of college football this past season with Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner and Coby Bryant and both players will be on NFL teams at the start of the 2022 season.
Bryant was a good Robin to Gardner who played Batman as he tallied 44 tackles with 3 interceptions and 2 forced fumbles. For Sauce, he is the best corner in this seasons draft, better than both Stingley and Booth.
This past season, Sauce made 40 tackles with 3 sacks, 3 interceptions, and 4 pass breakups. To go with his numbers this past season, the Detroit native didn’t allow more than thirteen yards to a receiver in a game. While his numbers were impressive in 2021, his career with the Bearcats is even better as he didn’t allow a single touchdown in his three seasons in red and black along with only giving up 117 yards.
Another reason I have Sauce as the second best defensive back in this draft, behind Kyle Hamilton, is because of his size. Gardner stands at 6’3 and weighs 200 pounds while Stingley is 6’1, 195 pounds, and Booth is 6’0, 200 pounds. At Gardners size, he makes a big mismatch for receivers trying to catch balls on him.
The argument against Gardner would be that he didn’t face top competition in AAC, but Booths best games came against unranked opponents with weaker receiving cores like Gardner and Stingley only played in three games.
Booths best game came when Clemson played against a 6-6 Boston College team this season that passed for 2,217 yards and only 13 touchdowns. His second best was vs the 7-6 South Carolina Gamecocks that passed for 22 touchdowns and 2,615 yards in 2021.
When Sauce played against the number one ranked Alabama Crimson Tide who had Jameson Williams out wide, he made 5 tackles with 1 for loss. He played stout against the nations seventh ranked offense and proved himself as the top cornerback in the country.
Gardner should be the second defensive back off the board by the Falcons at number eight, the Jets at number ten, or the Vikings at number twelve. He’ll make whoever drafts him this year very happy when the season rolls around and can work his way to be a number one corner by the middle of the year.