No. 4: Cornerback Jimmie Ward
Arik Armstead isn’t the only former Trent Baalke draft pick to be a big disappointment during training camp (there’s more too). Cornerback Jimmie Ward, who has seen his career take him from a nickel corner, to a boundary corner, to free safety and now back to corner, has been both tumultuous and riddled with injury.
Ward was having numerous issues in coverage throughout the first few days of camp, like this one-on-one drill against Marquise Goodwin:
#49ersCamp 1-on-1s: Marquise Goodwin versus Jimmie Ward. #49ers pic.twitter.com/OKa5x73afl
— Rob Lowder (@Rob_Lowder) July 28, 2018
And while one has to give Ward a bit of slack here, namely because he’s relearning the cornerback position after last year, it doesn’t help Ward also ended up falling to the injury bug on July 29. Per ESPN’s Nick Wagoner, Ward managed to return to camp on Aug. 5 after dealing with a minor hamstring injury.
That’s good, especially considering veteran cornerback Richard Sherman is now dealing with a hamstring injury of his own and will be out at least a week.
Ward is playing on his fifth-year option, which is now fully guaranteed at $8.526 million. He’ll be on the roster in 2018, although the fact he’s landed on season-ending injured reserve three of his four pro seasons is a major red flag. Especially considering he was dealing with a hamstring injury that kept him out of most of training camp last year too.