FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — In the moments after the Jets’ biggest win in two years, a 27-10 upset of the Packers in Green Bay on Oct. 16, the rookie cornerback Ahmad Gardner, known as Sauce, ventured toward the stands at one end of Lambeau Field.
There, a fan gave him a cheesehead hat — the crowning glory of Packers supporters — and Gardner put it atop his head, gleefully parading around the stadium like a conqueror. The defensive back has been a shutdown performer during the team’s 5-2 start, but his romp was the N.F.L.-viewing public’s first glimpse of Gardner’s giddiness.
“His play style is contagious,” said linebacker C.J. Mosley. “He’s always around the ball, and he sees the game at a high level. He’s a very smart player, and he enjoys what he’s doing.”
In the midst of a four-game winning streak, the Jets are experiencing their best start to a season since 2010, the last time the franchise reached the playoffs, and are on pace for their first winning season since 2015. Players and coaches around the Jets organization say that the team’s exuberance, exemplified by Gardner’s theatrics in Green Bay, have been as much a part of the franchise’s resurgence as its influx of talent.
“I’m not going to sit here and say it’s just me all by myself, but I definitely think it’s contagious,” Gardner, 22, said last week in between sips of a yellow slushy. “Being able to have confidence as a rookie — that’s not something that’s known for all rookies to have. I try to have as much confidence as possible, and hopefully that makes everyone else’s jobs easier.”
Gardner is one of 20 Jets players on the active 53-man roster who are in their first, second or third seasons, according to the team’s online roster. With nearly half of the team’s starters and key backups under 26 years old, the Jets are buoyed by young players who are contributing in the developmental phase of their careers, and led by a second-year head coach, Robert Saleh, who is letting them be themselves.
Saleh, in an interview last week, said Gardner’s ability to play true to himself while still learning was a prime example of the culture he wanted to instill.
“Every player is different, they’re all unique, and they all execute their assignment in different ways,” Saleh said. “You want to encourage them to be able to do that in their own special way, because when you do that, it just pops off the tape.”
Saleh said the organization’s reset has included signing players who he and General Manager Joe Douglas felt “love the game and everything that comes with it,” in the hopes that the franchise’s losing culture would evaporate.
“When you do that,” Saleh said, “it manifests to the personality that you see and guys that will do everything to protect it in how they handle themselves, how they handle each other and the effort at which they play on the football field.”
The Jets drafted quarterback Zach Wilson in the first round of the 2021 draft, then selected Gardner, receiver Garrett Wilson, defensive end Jermaine Johnson and running back Breece Hall in 2022.
Gardner’s play and style stand out even at a position traditionally occupied by some of football’s most boisterous players (think Deion Sanders and Richard Sherman). As a three-year starter at Cincinnati, Gardner did not allow a touchdown while in coverage.
He showed up to this year’s N.F.L. draft in April wearing the day’s blingiest accessories: two diamond-crusted Cuban link gold chains with custom pendants, including one with an open bottle, a nod to his nickname. The Jets selected Gardner with the No. 4 overall pick, and through seven weeks, Gardner has supported his hype with solid production.
He leads the league in pass deflections (12) and has allowed only 186 yards in coverage, the 9th fewest among cornerbacks targeted at least 30 times, according to the N.F.L.’s Next Gen Stats. After successful plays, he normally daps up teammates or celebrates with a quick embrace. In the fourth quarter against the Denver Broncos last week, after he broke up a potential game-tying touchdown, he stayed on the ground in the end zone while four teammates huddled around him.
In film review, defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said Gardner is a strong student and takes copious notes. But he can also be playfully disruptive.
“If it’s been 10 minutes and he hasn’t talked, he’s probably going to say something,” defensive lineman Sheldon Rankins said with a chuckle, noting that Gardner will often inject random comments and jokes during defensive meetings. “We’ll be like, ‘That has nothing to do with what’s going on, you just want to hear yourself talk.’”
The brashness — and joyfulness — of this year’s Jets wasn’t apparent at the season’s start. Mekhi Becton, the team’s starting offensive left tackle, fractured his right knee in training camp just days before Wilson tore his meniscus. And when the Jets lost to the Baltimore Ravens, 24-9, in the season opener, the familiar cloud of injuries and losses seemed parked over the 2022 season, same as ever.
In a passionate news conference the day after that game, Saleh urged fans to remain patient and said he would be “taking receipts” of any doubters, a rare shot at critics. Saleh said he immediately regretted the comment. Though demonstrative on the sideline, Saleh said he tries to remain poised on the podium so players do not have to answer for any controversy he creates.
“I don’t know what made me say it,” Saleh said. “Usually I try to stay calm, cool and collected up there, but it came out and it is what it is.”
Jets players, though, had a different take.
“It definitely fired us up,” Gardner said.
The Jets have lost just one game since, a 27-12 defeat to the Bengals in Week 3, and are a half-game back of the Buffalo Bills in the A.F.C. East. The defense has allowed 4.9 yards per play, tied for the fifth-fewest in the league, and the offense is tied for third in rushing touchdowns (9).
The team is facing injury concerns once again after losing two of its best players for the remainder of the season. Hall tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the Denver game, while right tackle Alijah Vera-Tucker tore his triceps. But Douglas this week traded for Jacksonville Jaguars running back James Robinson, who rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie season in 2020 — a move signaling that Douglas feels the roster can still contend for a playoff berth. After his first practice as a Jet on Oct. 26, Robinson said he thought he would transition smoothly,
“I love the vibe,” Robinson said. “It’s a lot of guys that want to win, and I can see that.”
Players have been just as focused on building chemistry off the field. Practices end with games of cornhole in the locker room, and Gardner said the secondary meets for dinner or to watch games at least once a week. Rankins recently hosted the defensive line for a meal at his home.
Rankins, who joined the Jets last season, said the camaraderie is reminiscent of that of his former team, the New Orleans Saints, where he was drafted in 2016 and experienced four playoff runs.
“The best teams I’ve been on have been player-driven teams,” Rankins said. “Obviously the coach is the head, but I think what you’re seeing is players taking the lead and the onus on themselves to steer this ship where we want it to go.”
Long snapper Thomas Hennessy — one of the longest-tenured Jets, who joined the team in 2017 — said previous teams were also young and players were close with each other. But this particular cast of personalities is teaching Hennessy a new lesson, he said.
“I’m seeing more and more how once you win and see what it takes to win, how that can create momentum,” Hennessy said. “Everyone in the building gets this belief that I think it becomes contagious.”