Wait, how old is Sauce Gardner? Colts CB clears up confusion about his age

INDIANAPOLIS — Sauce Gardner is used to playing lockdown defense. But having to defend his age is not a matchup the Indianapolis Colts cornerback envisioned five years into his NFL career.

“I’m 24!” Gardner said on the last day of Colts minicamp, laughing as he shook his head. “It’s crazy that I’m even being asked this.”

Is he sure?

“Yes!” the two-time, first-team All-Pro said. “You can ask my mom!”

Gardner was born Aug. 31, 2001, a date he swears he’s listed on every official document since starring at the University of Cincinnati, being drafted by the New York Jets and eventually traded to the Colts. His driver’s license confirms his age, he says. His passport does, too, the Colts confirmed.

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So, why, as he enters his fifth year in the NFL, does a large segment of the internet believe he was born in 2000?

ESPN.com lists Gardner’s birthday as Aug. 31, 2000, one year earlier than the date on his passport. Pro Football Reference, a website widely considered to be one of the most reputable in professional sports research, also lists him as born in 2000. So did The Athletic’s 2022 NFL Draft guide. Even EA Sports’ Madden NFL, a video game Gardner often plays, has his birthday as Aug. 31, 2000.

“It’s wrong in Madden, too? That’s crazy because I never checked,” Gardner said after he was notified. “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.”

That could be part of the problem.

Until The Athletic recently raised public questions about Gardner’s age by sharing a video of one of his offseason training sessions, Wikipedia listed him as 25 rather than 24. Therefore, for most people, the first response they would receive via a Google search about Gardner’s age would be accompanied by Wikipedia’s assertion that he was born in 2000.

Gardner’s Wikipedia page has since been corrected — well, kind of. In the “personal information” section, Gardner is listed as being born in 2001, but in the “early life” section of the Wikipedia bio, his birthdate still appears as Aug. 31, 2000. One website, two ages. Lots of confusion.

In an effort to solve the mystery of Gardner’s birthdate mix-up, we reached out to several places that listed his birth year as 2000 rather than 2001 to determine how the discrepancy originated.

For our draft guide, our writer typically verifies birthdates with the school the prospect attended via their roster, player page or media guide. If it’s not listed, as seems to be the case with Cincinnati, he asks the player, the player’s agent or an NFL team what they have on file.

A representative from Sports Reference, which operates Pro Football Reference, said the site reviews a school’s media guide before seeking consensus among reputable sources, including ESPN and Fox Sports.

The representative also pointed out that even the NFL’s 2025 Record and Fact Book lists Gardner’s birthday as 2000.

Despite all the responses we received to our inquiries, we still don’t know exactly where this mix-up started.

#Colts CB Sauce Gardner working on his craft. The two-time, first-team All-Pro is still only 24.

🎥 via IG pic.twitter.com/9AqW9C0A9H

— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) May 2, 2026

For years, the only place that listed Gardner’s year of birth as 2001 was NFL.com. Amid several discrepancies elsewhere, Gardner said that it’s never been a mystery to the teams he’s played for.

“Clubs notify us of any incorrect birthdates that would have appeared on their college sites when a player signs,” NFL chief spokesman Brian McCarthy told The Athletic via email. “Players also self-verify their birthdates and other personal information through a player portal.”

Although Gardner’s birthdate is not listed in his Cincinnati bio and the school did not respond to The Athletic’s inquiries, he confirmed that his alma mater knew his correct age all along.

That isn’t always the case. In a similar situation in the NBA, 3-point specialist Buddy Hield was in his third season with the Sacramento Kings when he publicly celebrated his 26th birthday. The issue is that the Kings, and just about everyone else, thought Hield was 25. He was even listed as 25 on the Kings’ and NBA’s official websites.

“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.’”

Gardner, like Hield, was glad to clear the air. He said he can see the humor in what many people may view as a trivial mixup. Still, he also noted that cornerbacks’ ages can be a touchy subject since their position doesn’t always age as gracefully as others.

“You can’t believe everything you see on the internet,” Gardner said, laughing as he repeated an age-old adage. “You just can’t.”

What’s more, Gardner acknowledged that he’s under an even bigger microscope than most cornerbacks since the Colts gave up two first-round picks and wide receiver AD Mitchell to acquire him. The expectations for his 2026 campaign are high, and they’ll stay that way throughout his Colts tenure.

Gardner welcomes the pressure and the responsibility as he assumes a larger leadership role. In fact, he has never been a team captain in the NFL, but as the years go by and he’s transitioned from being a naïve youngster asking a bunch of questions to a “still young” but established veteran on the receiving end of those inquiries, earning a C on his chest has become a priority, among others.

“All-Pro, Pro Bowl, all of that good stuff,” Gardner said as he rattled off the rest of his individual goals. “Team goals? Just getting to the playoffs because that’s one thing I haven’t done. And getting a ‘chip.”