Wait, what’s his age again?
When speaking to reporters Thursday about being a veteran in the NFL, Colts cornerback Sauce Gardner said that he is still pretty young, younger than many people might think.
“I’m 24!” Gardner said on the last day of Colts minicamp, according to The Athletic. “It’s crazy that I’m even being asked this.”
When asked to clarify, the ex-Jet responded by saying, “Yes! You can ask my mom!”
This might come as a surprise, as many sites online — including his profiles on ESPN, Pro Football Reference and Yahoo Sports — list Gardner’s age as 25, with his birth date being Aug. 31, 2000.
Gardner, however, was actually born on Aug. 31, 2001, which is reflected on the Colts’ website and NFL.com.
The two-time All-Pro insists that the 2001 date has been listed on every official document of his since his time at Cincinnati, adding that his driver’s license also confirms his age.
Even the popular football video game Madden had Gardner’s age listed as 25.
“It’s wrong in Madden, too? That’s crazy because I never checked,” Gardner said. “Because when it comes to the paperwork and everything I’ve signed, it all says ’01. So, I don’t know where or how it got messed up unless people just get it straight from Google.”
It is still unclear where the bizarre mix-up originally stemmed from, with Sports Reference, which operates Pro Football Reference, telling The Athletic they typically review a school’s media guide before verifying with multiple reputable sources.
Until recently, Wikipedia listed Gardner’s age as 25 instead of 24, so it could be likely that sites got the false information from there.
“You can’t believe everything you see on the internet,” Gardner said. “You just can’t.”
NFL.com was one of the only places that had Gardner’s age correct, with NFL chief spokesman Brian McCarthy telling The Athletic that athletes “self-verify” their personal information.
“Clubs notify us of any incorrect birthdates that would have appeared on their college sites when a player signs,” he said. “Players also self-verify their birthdates and other personal information through a player portal.”
Gardner, who was drafted by the Jets with the No. 4 pick in 2022, is about to enter his fifth NFL season, with Gang Green sending him off to Indianapolis midseason last year.
Similar errors have happened in professional sports before, with NBA guard Buddy Hield playing three seasons in the league before people realized he was actually a year older than what was once believed.
Hield, who was on the Kings at the time, had the 3-point specialist listed at 25 despite him publicly celebrating his 26th birthday.
“That’s their fault, not my fault,” Hield later told NBC Sports. “The first time I saw it on Wikipedia, my mom said, ‘Why do they have your age wrong?’ I said, ‘I have no idea.’”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
