An Honest Assessment of Charvarius Ward

Will the real Charvarius Ward please stand up?

Grant Cohn | Mar 20, 2022

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers signed Charvarius Ward to do what he did in 2021.

Last season, he didn't intercept lots of passes, but he did play sticky man-to-man coverage without giving up lots of big plays or committing lots of penalties, which is hard to do. He committed only four penalties in 2021 while allowing a passer rating of just 79.4. Granted, he missed four games -- nearly one quarter of the season -- but he still posted excellent numbers when he was on the field. Hence, his large contract with the 49ers.

But Ward did not play well in 2020. That season, he gave up a passer rating of 103.1 and committed a whopping 11 penalties in 14 games. Those numbers are Josh Normanesque, and Ward is supposed to be a big upgrade over him. In 2021, Norman started 14 games for the 49ers, committed 11 penalties and gave up a passer rating of 110.6.

So which Charvarius Ward did the 49ers sign? The one who played so well during his contract season, or the one who played like Josh Norman in 2020? Because if they signed the 2020 version, they would be better off sticking with Ambry Thomas, the promising young cornerback who replaced Norman down the stretch last season and improved in each of his starts.

How many pass interference and holding penalties will Ward committ before the 49ers tell him to stop being so aggressive and make him play nine yards off the line off scrimmage every snap the way their other cornerbacks do?

Don't forget, the Chiefs could have re-signed Ward, but instead decided to sign safety Justin Reid. Maybe they know something about Ward that the 49ers don't? Maybe the Chiefs think 2021 was an aberration for Ward and he will revert to the 2020 version of himself after his big pay day?

Will the real Charvarius Ward please stand up?

Published Mar 20, 2022

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.