Jets’ Sauce Gardner makes surprising admission after social media missteps: ‘I went down a rabbit hole’

Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner did something Wednesday that has become all too uncommon in this age of athletes communicating directly with fans and media on social media – firing off several posts defending himself Monday only to quickly delete them.
He admitted his mistake and took complete responsibility for it. There were no excuses, no qualifiers. Gardner said it was on him for taking to social media earlier this week to defend himself from what has become a wave of negativity and criticism in the wake of the Jets’ nightmare 3-7 start.
“That’s on me,” Gardner said. “Me being a leader of the team, of the defense, I can’t be on social media with my emotions saying certain stuff. I know better. My coaches know that I know better. My teammates know that I know better. And I’ve just got to be better.”
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It was refreshing change of pace in a locker room that has all too often looked to blame forces outside the locker room for the negativity that comes with their on the field failures.
“Obviously, things [are] not going how we expected them to go,” Gardner said. “But what I can say is, I’m going to do everything in my power to change that. I’m going to do everything in my power: me preparing, me being the best teammate I can be, me bringing the energy. Everything I can do to turn this around.”
Gardner has run into the first struggles of his career after earning AP First-Team, All-Pro honors in each of his first two seasons. And while talk of his struggles are overblown – he’s still one of the best cornerbacks in the league, despite his more frequent coverage mistakes and tackling issues – Gardner admitted he needs to improve his play and once again took responsibility for the crucial missed tackle in which Cardinals tight end Trey McBride shed him for a first down in the second quarter of Sunday’s 31-6 loss to the Cardinals.
He also admitted he needs to do a better job handling all the negativity that comes with the Jets failure to meet expectations. Earlier this year, Gardner said he deleted the X (formerly known as Twitter) app from his phone. So how did he end up getting back on social media and spending part of Monday, after the blowout loss to the Cardinals sparring with journalists and fans?
“I had to find a DM that was related to something off the field that I had to find, and I went down a little rabbit hole when I got on there,” Gardner said, laughing. “I’m not going to lie to you. I did delete it, but I had to install it for something and I went down a little rabbit hole, man. Because, I don’t know what it is, when I go on, my home feed on Twitter is just negative. So as soon as I got on there, I’m like, ‘Man!?’ I done forgot to go look at the DM that I was supposed to go on there for because of what I done seen. I got a little distracted. I’ve got to be better, man.”
Gardner said he took care of the problem.
“I deleted it again,” Gardner said. “If anybody got to say something to me, or I’ve got to find something, send it somewhere else.”
Gardner did make one clarification, refuting the notion that he was responding to random fans via direct message. Gardner said he knows the video game streamer who reposted the direct message in which Gardner used and expletive and told him to “do sumn about it instead of goin live and chattin.” But again, Gardner didn’t blame the person who posted the interaction.
“The guy who posted that, he wasn’t a fan. I actually know him,” Gardner said. “And what I told him on Instagram, I didn’t mean it in no malicious way. And he knew that, but he streams and [with] everything that’s going on, he just wanted some attention. And that’s on me for just DMing him that to begin with. Even though I know that I know that I know him, understanding that certain people, they don’t really care that they know me. You know? What he did, I can’t even be mad that I know him, because it’s really on me on trusting him.”
It’s sometimes easy to forget that Gardner is just 24 years old and three years ago was still a relatively unknown private citizen. Gardner admits it has been an adjustment and he’s doing the best he can with it.
“Sometimes I do certain things and say certain things to certain people, not really understanding who I really am,” Gardner said. “Not really understanding like, I’m Sauce Gardner for the New York Jets. … That’s why I regret sending that DM, because that don’t directly reflect the type of person I am. I know I’m a humble person. I know I’m a leader. I know I want what’s best for me and for my team. And that didn’t correlate with that.”
Gardner, who also on Monday criticized a reporter over a post about his missed tackle on McBride, then turned to the reporter and apologized directly.
“I apologize for quoting that tweet,” Gardner said. “It doesn’t matter what it is. I shouldn’t have [done] that.”
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Andy Vasquez may be reached at [email protected].