San Francisco 49ers: Can Jimmie Ward replicate last year’s production in 2020?

The 49ers received career-best play from safety Jimmie Ward in 2019, and the Niners need him to do it again.

San Francisco 49ers defensive back Jimmie Ward had an up-and-down career ever since being selected late in Round 1 of the 2014 NFL Draft. The Niners had him playing nickel defensive back his rookie year, and he had some growing pains. In 2015, he was moved all around the secondary before getting work as a cornerback in 2017, then back to being a safety in 2018.

Up through that point, Ward landed on season-ending injured reserve in four of his first five seasons. So it was a bit of a surprise San Francisco brought him back on a one-year deal for 2019.

And Ward delivered. Big time.

By year’s end, Pro Football Focus ranked Ward as the No. 6 overall safety in 2019, giving him an outstanding 84.9 overall grade on the year. While the traditional stats didn’t tell a big part of the story — 65 tackles, eight pass breakups and a sack — Ward’s presence on the back end of San Francisco’s secondary helped transform this unit from a laughable group in 2018 to the league’s best pass defense a year ago.

So it wasn’t too shocking to see the 49ers bring Ward back on a three-year, $28.5 million deal during the offseason.

Ward will turn 29 years old before the start of the 2020 season. And this year could mark the last time the Niners secondary looks like it does after falling just short of a full championship in Super Bowl LIV. Fellow defensive backs Jaquiski Tartt, Richard Sherman, Ahkello Witherspoon and K’Waun Williams are all entering contract years, and San Francisco will be hard pressed to re-sign everyone.

That said, Ward needs to be the constant. And if the 49ers expect their secondary to be just as good as it was a year ago, one could argue Ward needs to match or exceed his efforts from a year ago.

Jimmie Ward hopes health will help him help 49ers

There are arguably two challenges Ward had to overcome during his first five seasons in San Francisco: injuries and a constant revolving door with his positions.

“I look back on my career and I see all the different positions I’ve played, different coaches each year, different playbooks each year,” Ward told 49ers.com. That kind of hurt me, especially not to mention the injuries. That definitely hurt me because any time you’re not on the field, you can’t get better if you’re on the sidelines.”

Ward dealt with a broken collarbone and broken finger early in 2019, which limited him to 13 regular-season games. But there’s no questioning Ward will enjoy both a consistent crop of defensive backs carrying over from last season and an identical role to the one he thrived in last year at the back end of the secondary.

If those are the two prime factors, Ward should be able to match last year’s levels of play.

San Francisco will bank on this. Instead of putting a high priority on free-agent defensive backs or promising prospects in the NFL Draft, the Niners elected to hope Ward’s 2019 season wasn’t a mere career-best burst.

Rather a promising indication of what’s to come.