Jets' Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson win Rookie of the Year

Publish date: 2024-07-17

Explore More

PHOENIX — Call it a Jets sweep. 

Cornerback Sauce Gardner won Defensive Rookie of the Year and wide receiver Garrett Wilson won Offensive Rookie of the Year on Thursday night at the NFL Honors show. 

The Jets are just the third team in the history of the awards to win on both sides of the ball. The 1967 Lions and 2017 Saints also pulled off the feat. 

It is the punctuation mark for remarkable rookie seasons by Gardner and Wilson and for general manager Joe Douglas, who looks like he built a franchise-changing draft class in 2022. 

“We feel like our best days are ahead of us as an organization, as young guys,” Wilson said. “We’re trying to change the culture. Awards are cool and all but we need to start winning games. We’re going to start winning games pretty soon here.” 

Gardner received 46 of 50 first-place votes. He had 20 passes defended, 75 tackles and two interceptions after the Jets took him with the No. 4-overall pick out of Cincinnati last year. Gardner did not shy away from difficult matchups — facing Stefon Diggs, Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Tyreek Hill, Mark Andrews and DK Metcalf in his first season. 

Sauce Gardner accepts his NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award. AP
Garrett Wilson accepts the award for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. AP

Opposing quarterbacks had a 53.1 completion percentage and 61.2 quarterback rating when targeting Gardner. Receivers averaged just 5.1 yards per target against him. The other defensive finalists were Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson and Seahawks cornerback Tariq Woolen. 

Gardner said he remembered draft night 10 months ago when he was talking to the media and then saw Wilson come in and realized they were teammates. 

“I was in the media room and I saw him walk in with a Jets hat on,” Gardner said. “We started laughing. We were saying how we were going to make each other better. He was just saying that I was winning the majority of the reps in practice. I don’t pride myself on winning the reps. I pride myself on making my teammates better. He can lose all the reps to me in practice all he wants, but I know he’s going to go out there on Sunday and be unstoppable.” 

Sauce Gardner high-fives Jets fans after a game against the Broncos on Oct. 23, 2022. Getty Images
Garrett Wilson thrived despite the Jets’ rotating cast of quarterbacks. Bill Kostroun for the NY Post

Wilson set a new franchise rookie records with 83 receptions and 1,103 receiving yards. He also caught four touchdown passes. The No. 10-overall pick out of Ohio State had three 100-yard games and went over 90 yards six times. 

Wilson accomplished all of this despite unrest at quarterback. He caught passes from four different quarterbacks, three different starters. The other finalists for the offensive award were 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy and Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker. 

Wilson received 18 first-place votes. Walker actually received more with 19, but Wilson had 19 second place votes to Walker’s eight. 

Previous

1 of 7

Next

Advertisement

“This means everything,” Wilson said. “It’s just something no one can ever take from me. You put in a lot of work to end up at this point. To see it come to fruition is awesome.” 

The other NFL teams to sweep the Rookie of the Year awards were the 1967 Lions with Mel Farr and Lem Barney and the 2017 Saints with Alvin Kamara and Marshon Lattimore winning the awards. 

Wilson said the next step is being part of a playoff team. 

“Being part of a team that has a chance to play into this time of year,” Wilson said. “I’m not even allowed to go to an event like this because we’ve got a game on Sunday. That’s the goal. That’s the next step. It’s going to take some time to build to that but we’re confident in what we have.”

ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlf3R7j2tmaXFfn7K1v4ysmK6blWK0or7Dp5yrZZeWv7Ox061ksKGcqLyvedaipWaqn6S4qrGMqJ1mrJiaerqxwKtm