San Francisco 49ers: 5 biggest questions facing the defense in 2017
By Peter Panacy
No. 5: How Will Jimmie Ward Adjust to Free Safety?
On the positive side of things, defensive back Jimmie Ward played his collegiate ball at the free safety position.
So the transition from cornerback to safety shouldn’t be too difficult, we’d naturally assume. After all, it’s his natural position. The Niners only moved him to slot corner his rookie season back in 2014.
Keep in mind though, three years have passed since Ward switched from slot- and outside-coverage duties to being the last line of defense.
That’s a good chunk of time.
Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh will implement a lot of Cover 3 schemes, which call for a single-high safety and the strong safety down in the box. We’ll get to how this affects the cornerbacks in a moment, but it’s safe to say Ward is going to have a big responsibility patrolling almost the entirety of the deep portion of the field.
Granted, Ward is only 25 years old and is just hitting the prime of his career. The last two seasons have shown a pretty good indication he can handle this role without much issue.
But the fact he’ll be on his own frequently is enough of a concern to list here.