SF 49ers made mistake re-signing Jimmie Ward last offseason

The SF 49ers committed a good deal of money to veteran safety Jimmie Ward, although hindsight is showing it’s been more of a mistake.

Make no mistake, SF 49ers safety Jimmie Ward is a good player.

A year ago, he was the glue that held the back end of the Niners secondary together, and that group ended up being a crucial part of the equation that got head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad all the way to the Super Bowl.

And yet San Francisco made a mistake re-signing Ward when he hit free agency last offseason.

Nothing against the player, as he was able to cash in on a career-best season in 2019 where he was awarded a near-elite 84.2 overall grade by Pro Football Focus, right towards the very top of all safeties that year.

The SF 49ers subsequently decided to give Ward a three-year, $28.5 million contract the following offseason just after he hit free agency. Ward apparently turned down other offers to stay with the Niners, which is understandable. The team was stacked and he had assumed a key role within the defense.

Except one can fairly wonder if the deal was a smart move from San Francisco’s vantage point.

That deal is scheduled to cost the SF 49ers up to $11.5 million next season for a player who currently has 42 tackles, one pass broken up and zero interceptions. And his current PFF grade is 57.7 — ranked 55th out of 86 qualifying safeties.

PFF isn’t everything, but the other factors at play suggest the contract wasn’t a good deal. True, there’s zero in guaranteed money for Ward in 2021 and 2022. But if the cap-stressed Niners need to engineer some wiggle room to fit in other pending free agents and/or target other players on the open market, clearing Ward as a cap casualty would save only $1.5 million against $9.5 million in dead money if done before June 1, according to Over the Cap.

That all but guarantees Ward will be on the roster next season.

Jimmie Ward blocking the way for SF 49ers to field Tarvarius Moore?

Head coach Kyle Shanahan is a huge fan of Ward. And there’s nothing wrong with that either. As noted earlier, he’s a good player.

But one of the players San Francisco would be wise to develop is its third-round investment from the 2018 NFL Draft, defensive back Tarvarius Moore, who seemed to be pegged as Ward’s long-term replacement at the beginning of last season. Heck, Ward even endorsed Moore as such before the former received his new deal over the offseason.

Instead of being featured as a rangy, speedy single-high safety, Moore has been relegated to a third-safety — or “big nickel” — defensive back and special teams ace.

While those are important, Moore’s raw skill set and blazing-fast speed are traits the 4-5 Niners would be wise to explore.

Both as a cheaper and younger option to Ward’s long-term availability.

Granted, Ward is probably an upgrade at this point of the less-experienced Moore. But with San Francisco’s 2020 campaign beginning to fall apart for a variety of reasons, one can think the franchise should have made re-signing Ward less a priority.

Sometimes it’s smarter to move on from players sooner than a team would otherwise like to.