PHOENIX – When the San Francisco 49ers needed reinforcements in their secondary, they shifted safety Jimmie Ward to nickel cornerback.
It wasn’t a secret that Ward didn’t love the move, preferring to play his natural safety position. He wound up battling injuries, playing a dozen games after starting the season on injured reserve with a hamstring problem and missed another game due to a broken left hand and finished the season with 50 tackles, three interceptions and a forced fumble.
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Now that Ward, 31, has joined the Texans on a two-year, $13 million contract that reunites him with coach DeMeco Ryans, his defensive coordinator in San Francisco, he won’t have to worry about playing nickel again. Ryans plans to deploy Ward strictly at safety.
“Of course, everyone knows Jimmie wants to play safety,” Ryans said at the NFL owners meetings at the Arizona Biltmore. But in talking to Jimmie last year, I always told him, when you play the nickel position and you can play the safety position, it just opens up a lot more avenues for you, and that’s what it’s done for Jimmie.
“Jimmie has been very fun to work with because he’s jumped into that nickel role, and he thrived in the role, made probably more plays than he’s made playing safety, so Jimmie can play anywhere, but I’m going to play him at safety.”
Ward has 451 career tackles, seven interceptions, three sacks and seven forced fumbles in 106 games.
A former first-round draft pick from Northern Illinois, Ward is an experienced player who can help teach Ryans’ defense to younger players.
“Initially you want to bring guys in who know exactly how I want things done, how our culture will be set,” Ryans said. “You want to bring those guys in but also knowing it doesn’t just work that day. To be able to get a guy like Jimmie Ward is very vital for our defense. Jimmie is a guy, he plays safety in our scheme. He’s played nickel. Jimmie is a veteran guy who’s played a lot of football. With the younger guys that we have, we have a very young group, young nucleus of players who are talented.
“I feel like Jimmie can come in and just help those guys, aside from the football aspect but also just off the field, just how to be a true pro. That’s what Jimmie provides and brings to those guys, and excited to get a guy who can do it and the leadership role he can provide off the field, and on the field Jimmie is still playing football at a high level. So, to add a safety who can make dynamic plays for us was very vital.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com