Ward is a Star, and it's making a difference for 49ers
Jimmie Ward's NFL career has been filled with plenty of ups and downs.
But finally, he's a Star.
Not in terms of fame and recognition, though Ward did deserve a Pro Bowl nod last season.
No, “Star” is his new position. And the Niners' NFL-best defense is reaping the benefits of his shift.
Ward has played many roles for the 49ers in his nine seasons with the team, but since returning to the Niners' lineup full-time in Week 7, following a stint on the injured reserve with a hamstring injury and then a broken hand — suffered on the opening kickoff of his first game back in Week 5 — the Niners' do-it-all defensive back has been filling in as the team's starting nickel back.
But in reality, the longtime free safety is more than a guy providing slot coverage on passing downs.
There are dozens of other names for the hybrid, strongside linebacker, slot-cover-man role across the world of college football, because defensive coordinators are realizing it's a must-have position if you want to combat the spread offenses. Lobo, Cinco, Bandit, Bullet, Viper — they're all more or less the same. But Alabama coach Nick Saban — whose defenses in Tuscaloosa popularized the position — calls the position the Star.
Kyle Shanahan's defensive coordinators have been trying to utilize the role more for a half-decade now, though they lack a cool name for the position.
Probably because no one has been able to do everything asked of the role until Ward took the job.
“Jimmie's one of the best safeties in this league, whether he's deep or whether he's up (at the line of scrimmage),” Niners coach Kyle Shanahan told me on KNBR. “But in terms of coverage, that he does (that) better than every safety in this league.”
“Through these six years, he's been our best cover guy. (We're) trying to get our best group out there, and with how good (Tashaun) Gipson was playing, it was nothing against Jimmie.”
“I think it's a little bit more fun for him,” Shanahan said of Ward being near the line of scrimmage. “Jimmie likes being up there in the mix. I think he gets a little bit bored back there deep... Now he's up there where he can scrap it up in the run game and get on guys in the pass game and really challenge guys.”
The position change comes with complications, though. The Niners tried to play safety Eric Reid in this role back in 2017. Reid was quite good at the linebacker portion of it, but he resented the switch, as it was made after he suffered an injury and during a contract year. Reid did play safety again in 2017, but he was of the belief that the move closer to the line of scrimmage was part of the reason his free-agent value cratered that offseason.
Ward knows that history — he was the guy whose injury allowed Reid to switch back to safety. And this season he, like Reid five years ago, lost his starting safety job because of an injury. It happened in a contract year, too. That's why he initially griped about the move.
But he's warming up to the change.
“I'm a team player,” Ward said after Sunday's win over the Saints. “That's why I've stuck around with the Niners for so long.”
The Niners' defense clearly likes the change — with Ward providing excellent coverage in the slot and defending the run like a linebacker — San Francisco hasn't allowed a point in six quarters or a second-half score in four games.
Ultimately, the transition to the new role wasn't as significant for Ward as it was for Reid.
“Watch my college tape,” Ward said. Indeed, he was moved all over the defense at Northern Illinois. (Sadly, the Huskies only listed Ward as a safety on the depth chart and not, say, the Dawg.)
Even last season, Ward only lined up in the defensive backfield on 54 percent of snaps. The rest of the time, he was defending a receiver in the slot, or playing de facto linebacker, as the Niners would bring in thenrookie Talanoa Hufanga as part of a three-safety package or Jaquiski Tartt would stay back as a single high safety.
So when Emmanuel Moseley tore his ACL in the Niners' Week 5 win over the Panthers, it wasn't hard to consider moving Ward from safety was safety. Deommodore Lenoir had taken Sam Womack's starting nickel back spot the week before, but he was seen as the best option to replace Moseley on the outside, too. Instead of putting Womack — a pure coverage guy — back on the field, why not give the Star one last go?
The Niners have tried to have it all with their nickel back/ SAM linebacker position before. Reid's coverage skills against wide receivers really relegated him to just linebacker snaps. The same was true for Tarvarius Moore and Hufanga, two other safeties the Niners have tried at the hybrid position in sub-packages.
The one player Shanahan trusted to do it all — true nickel back K'Waun Williams — left a bit too much to be desired in man coverage and against the run. (Though Williams did hit above his weight class at only 185 pounds.) Williams signed with Denver this past offseason.
“We knew Jimmie would be our best nickel at that time, and the fact that we had someone behind Jimmie that was playing well at safety kind of got us the best of both worlds,” Shanahan said. “Now, we could get (Ward) up there and do what he does so well.”
A few weeks into the experiment, one can't argue with the success.
As for contract talks, Ward is seeing the silver lining. He's being asked to play an effectively new and difficult position, at age 31 — 100 games into his NFL career — and he's doing it exceptionally well.
The 49ers have hit Ward with a lot and he's had to adapt to it all on the fly. But when those contact negotiations do start, Ward knows “they can't hit me with age.”