Sheldon Rankins has seen this before.
As a second-year player with the Saints in 2017, Rankins watched a rookie class help transform a franchise and saw two of those rookies pull off a rare double — Alvin Kamara won Offensive Rookie of the Year and Marshon Lattimore took home Defensive Rookie of the Year. It was only the second time in the history of the awards that the winners on both sides of the ball came from one team.
Now, the Jets defensive tackle is watching it happen again.
Sauce Gardner is the favorite to win DROY, according to the odds at Caesar’s. Garrett Wilson is tied with Seattle’s Kenneth Walker and the Packers’ Christian Watson to win on the offensive side.
As the Jets enter the final stretch of the season, they are chasing a playoff berth. But their rookies are also chasing hardware.
“It’s special to watch,” Rankins said. “It was special to watch the first time with Alvin and Marshon. Then, to be able to watch it happen with Sauce and Garrett, it’s crazy.”
Rankins was asked if he sees any similarity between those Saints rookies and these Jets rookies.
“When you just bring in guys who, I don’t know any other way to say it, who really just don’t give a [bleep] about who they’re playing against and when you have guys like that that have the talent these guys have, they just go out and execute at a high level,” Rankins said.
It is clear Gardner and Wilson don’t give a bleep about who they are facing. The Jets’ two top-10 picks have taken on all comers this season. Gardner has not shied away from the top receivers the Jets have faced, whether it is Justin Jefferson or Tyreek Hill.
It feels as if Wilson gets better with each week and is making big plays when the Jets absolutely need them.
“That would be special,” Wilson said of possibly pulling off the historic double. “I know me and Sauce both feel like if we go about the last couple of weeks the right way and do everything we can to help our team that will take care of itself. That’s not at the forefront of our minds. We want to be a playoff team. We want to win these games on the back end. That’s our focus.”
Gardner said he and Wilson go back and forth over who is going to win Rookie of the Week and the two have talked about possibly both taking home Rookie of the Year.
“We’ve definitely thought about it,” Gardner said. “I don’t really be going too deep into individual accolades that I want, but Defensive Rookie of the Year is one of them, and I feel like I’m the best defensive rookie doing it, for real. The guys I’ve had to go against and the stuff I’ve been doing … I feel like I’ve been going against the best that there is.”
Gardner’s biggest challenger is Seattle cornerback Tariq Woolen, who has six interceptions. Gardner has only two interceptions, but he has a league-high 15 passes defensed and has not been thrown at as much as Woolen as teams have started to show him more respect.
Wilson has 57 catches for 790 yards and four touchdowns. He has five games with 90 yards or more this season. The only players who have hit that mark more this season are a who’s who of stars in the league: Jefferson (8), Stefon Diggs (8), Davante Adams (8), Hill (7) and Travis Kelce (6).
The amazing part of watching Wilson and Gardner has been how quickly they have played well.
“From Day 1, you could tell that they were not scared to be in this league,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “The game is not too big for them. I think that’s why you’re seeing the success that they’ve had, and that’s why they’re getting better every single week.”
Wilson said he felt like he did not play well during OTAs in the spring or in training camp, but something clicked right before Week 1 and once he understood the offense, he was able to just play.
“I struggled initially,” Wilson said. “Maybe everyone doesn’t know that. But I knew I was struggling and I left some plays on the field. For me, it was just staying at it and getting to the point where I know the offense and I can play fast. … That was the big difference for me, just being able to play ball.”
Gardner and Wilson are trying to join Kamara and Lattimore and the Lions’ duo of Mel Farr and Lem Barney who pulled off the exacta in 1967.
That 2017 New Orleans rookie class transformed the Saints, who had gone 7-9 in three straight seasons before their arrival and then went to the playoffs four straight years. This Jets class has the potential to do the same thing for an organization whose playoff drought is at 11 years and counting. This rookie class’ success goes beyond Gardner and Wilson, too. If Breece Hall had not torn his ACL, he might be battling Wilson on the offensive side.
This class could be general manager Joe Douglas’ legacy and could help dull the hit he’ll take if Zach Wilson, the man he drafted No. 2 overall in 2021, is a washout.
It feels as if the end of the season could hold special things for the Jets and one of them might come at the NFL Honors show in February with both Gardner and Garrett Wilson hearing their names called.