The Kansas City Chiefs invested a lot of development time in Charvarius Ward after trading for him ahead of the 2018 NFL season.
The undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee State spent most of his rookie season as a healthy scratch until Andy Reid and the coaching staff got him involved late in the year. Ever since then, Ward has been a fixture for the Chiefs’ defense, starting 41 regular-season games over the past three seasons.
Pro Football Focus recently named the most improved players for all 32 NFL teams and Ward was their choice for Kansas City. Ward’s season-long PFF grade jumped 6.9 points in 2021 to 71.2 from a 64.3 grade in 2020. Here’s a look at what PFF’s Anthony Treash had to say about it:
“Ward was picked on more in 2021 than in any other season of his career — he was targeted on 17.9% of his coverage snaps, the 14th-highest rate among NFL corners. Despite that, Ward held his own and recorded a career-high PFF grade. He generated 0.37 PFF WAR, which ranked 16th among NFL corners and was over seventh-tenths more than his previous career-best.”
As the great Terez Paylor would say, the contract year is undefeated. Ward’s set to become a free agent for the first time in March and his future might not be in Kansas City. Because of that, Ward had every reason to put together his best season this year.
It really felt like Ward did a much better job this season using his size and length to defend the pass, also using the sideline to his advantage. It makes sense that he was targeted frequently because he was the play that Steve Spagnuolo often tasked with covering No. 1 receivers on the outside. The fact that he did such a good job locking down that level of competition speaks to how much he’s grown in his four NFL seasons.
Do you agree with PFF that Ward was the Chiefs’ most-improved player in 2021? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below.
