Colts star Sauce Gardner clears up confusion about his date of birth: Why almost everyone got his age wrong
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- Sauce Gardner told reporters at the Colts' final mandatory minicamp day that he is 24, not 25, and blamed the internet mix-up on incorrect data likely pulled from the NFL Record and Fact book, joking that 'people just get it straight from Google.'
- The Athletic's James Boyd first flagged the discrepancy: ESPN, Pro Football Reference, and Wikipedia listed Gardner's birthday as Aug. 31, 2000, while NFL.com and the Colts' official site correctly listed Aug. 31, 2001.
- The NFL's Record and Fact book has listed Gardner's birthday incorrectly as Aug. 31, 2000 every year since his 2022 rookie season with the New York Jets, when he was drafted fourth overall.
- Gardner confirmed his passport and driver's license both show a 2001 birth date, and every piece of paperwork he has signed lists '01.
- NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told The Athletic that clubs notify the league of incorrect birthdates from college sites when a player signs, and that players self-verify personal information through a player portal.
- Cincinnati does not include player birthdays on its athletic profile pages, which likely made the erroneous 2022 NFL Record and Fact book the primary wrong source the internet pulled from.
- The Colts now have a 24-year-old two-time All-Pro cornerback under contract through 2029 instead of a 25-year-old, which the article frames as an even better deal for Indianapolis.
Why it matters: A two-time All-Pro cornerback had to publicly correct his own age because the NFL's own Record and Fact book — published annually and used by major outlets like ESPN and Pro Football Reference — carried the wrong birth year for four straight years. Indianapolis now has a younger-than-listed lockdown corner locked up through 2029, a small but real roster-value upgrade.
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