Why Seahawks should choose Sauce Gardner in the 2022 NFL draft

When the Seattle Seahawks were becoming a great team in the 2010s, they build from the back to the front of the defense. Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner could help Seattle rebuild in the same way.

Gardner is as close to a perfect Pete Carroll cornerback as Pete or anyone could ask for. Gardner is 6’2″ (some list him at 6’3″) and 190 pounds with long arms and extreme athleticism and can run a 4.4 40. He creates turnovers and is ultra-aggressive. Heck, I wish instead of playing for the Cincinnati Bearcats in college last year he had played for the Seahawks.

But Ken Norton, Jr. would probably have found a way to waste Sauce Gardner too. The great thing is Norton, Jr. was fired and now coaches linebackers in college. Pretty fall far, right? It’s because Norton, Jr. couldn’t get the best out of the players he had in the NFL.

But new defensive coaches Clint Hurtt and Sean Desai should be much better. That, and Karl Scott will be coaching the defensive backs and Scott is a cornerback whisperer.

Seahawks should take Sauce Gardner at pick number 9 in the 2022 NFL draft

Scott coached gifted CBs while at Alabama and some of the CBs, like Trevon Diggs, have gone on to be very successful NFL players. But Scott doesn’t just coach technique well, he also teaches CBs how to take the ball away.

At Cincinnati, Gardner had 9 picks in his college career. He would have had more but quarterbacks started rightfully being afraid to throw towards Gardner. They will learn that it isn’t wise to throw to Gardner, too, if and hopefully when Gardner is wearing a Seahawks uniform. Pairing Gardner with Tre Brown would cement Seattle’s CB position for years and create an aggressive secondary like the one Seattle had when Richard Sherman was young.

Seattle is also set at safety for at least the next three seasons with Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams, CB would be the position of need and Gardner could be a Week One starter in 2022. Need proof: Gardner had two pick-sixes at Cincinnati but allowed zero – read that again: zero – touchdown passes when targeted. He also allowed just 712 receiving yards on 138 targets. That’s an average of 5.16 yards per target which is a ridiculously low amount.

If the Seahawks stand pat at pick number 9 and doesn’t trade down then instead of getting a quarterback (they should wait for that) they need to get a left tackle or cornerback or edge rusher. If I were doing the choosing, I would take Gardner, if he is still available, with the Seahawks first choice in the 2022 NFL draft.