49ers will gladly appreciate this fact about Charvarius Ward

While the 49ers inked former Chiefs defensive back Charvarius Ward to solve their cornerback issues, they likely noticed this facet when targeting him.

Former San Francisco 49ers cornerback Josh Norman probably didn’t leave the fanbase thinking good thoughts about him.

While Norman’s up-and-down 2021 campaign had some positives, most fans will probably recall the sheer amount of times he was penalized for defensive holding or pass interference. And if you weren’t actually counting, he committed six of these infractions over the course of the season, by far the most on the Niners roster.

In fact, no team was hit harder by defensive pass interference more than San Francisco last year, 20 times in total, and the next highest-penalized team in this particular category was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with 14.

Needless to say, it was a problem.

The 49ers hope to have largely solved this by grabbing former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Charvarius Ward, their big-ticket free-agent acquisition of the offseason and someone who’ll be tabbed with being No. 1 on the cornerback depth chart entering 2022.

And while Ward’s on-field presence will be something to watch, it’s his ability to avoid those costly yellow flags that should also stand out.

Charvarius Ward won’t hurt 49ers in the penalty department

Press-man corners frequently wind up showing their age and declining skill set by being extra grabby, as they’re no longer capable of staying with younger, faster wide receivers.

This is mitigated somewhat by more zone-style schemes. But with Niners defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans implementing more man coverage last season, finding someone who’d be an upgrade over Norman was a necessity.

Ward doesn’t come cheap, inking a three-year, $40.5 million deal with San Francisco that’ll cost an average of $13.5 million, annually.

In terms of not being hit with penalties, though, it’s money well spent.

Ward was flagged twice last season for defensive holding. But, in terms of defensive pass interference, that only happened once on a notable 753 defensive snaps.

This is a prime reason why NFL.com analyst Cynthia Frelund explained why Ward’s acquisition was so vital to the 49ers:

"San Francisco’s free agent pickup boasts an NFL-best 46.9 completion percentage allowed in coverage since 2019, per NGS (min. 150 targets). He also had only one penalty called against him last season with Kansas City. Not surprising then that the Niners, who ranked 29th in completion percentage allowed (68.2) and whose DBs were the most penalized in the league last season, pursued the 26-year-old this offseason."

Read More: 6 former 49ers from 2021 who are still free agents

It appears as if the Niners learned their lesson: not undervaluing and underinvesting in the cornerback room, which had been something of a troubling trend the last couple of seasons and led to the need to grab someone like Norman off the free-agent scrap heap just prior to the 2021 season kicking off.

With Ward now in the mix, San Francisco should expect its hefty penalty fines to decrease significantly.