This past year and this 2024 season with the San Francisco 49ers was a trying one for cornerback Charvarius Ward.
So much so that Ward revealed on Monday that he might not want to return to the 49ers in free agency.
Ward’s life was upended in late October when his daughter, Amani Joy, passed away just before her second birthday after a prolonged battle with heart issues.
Ward said that he still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from his daughter’s death, which leads to night sweats and occasional vomiting. The seventh-year pro called this year the most difficult year of his life.
While Ward didn’t completely rule out a return to San Francisco, there’s understandable scar tissue in California that he feels it might be time to move on from.
“I’ve got a lot of trauma in California,” Ward said. “I had a lot of great times, but the worst thing that’s ever happened to me, that’s probably going to ever happen to me—knock on wood—happened in California. It can just bring up bad memories. Every time I get on a plane and come back to California, Santa Clara, San Jose, and show up here, it just brings up bad memories.
“I go through that every day. I go home every night by myself because my girl, she doesn’t want to come back to California because of what happened. So, it is hard being alone, and she’s my strength right now. I need her, and so her not being able to be around me if I’m in California, it’d be tough.”
After announcing the death of his daughter on Oct. 29, Ward took time away from the team, sitting out three games before making his return on Dec. 1 at the Buffalo Bills.
Ward played in five of the final six games of the 2024 season, missing just the Dec. 30 contest versus the Detroit Lions for the birth of his son, Charvarius Jr.
The birth of his son was a happy refuge from the tragedy that October brought. But, even the birth of their son was challenging. Ward said that he and his girlfriend nearly lost their son early in the pregnancy before Amani died.
“It took everything physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually,” Ward said. “It took all of that every day for me to just come here and be able to practice. I wasn’t going to meetings half the time. My social battery was so low. It was just hard being around people. I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me and everything like that. I just tried to show up and be there for my teammates.”
After recording his first Pro Bowl appearance and a second-team All-Pro nod in 2023, Ward’s 2024 campaign didn’t bring the same success. Ward tallied 72 tackles, five interceptions and a forced fumble during the 2023 season, but he registered just 54 tackles and no interceptions or forced fumbles this past season.
Ward attributed his on-field struggles to what he was facing off of it.
Ward just completed the final year of a three-year, $42.5 million deal that he signed in March of 2022.
The 49ers signed fellow cornerback Deommodore Lenoir to a five-year extension worth up to $92 million in November and will bring back Renardo Green who impressed during his rookie campaign.
“I think they went into this season thinking they wasn’t going to be able to afford me based off the way I played last year,” Ward said. “If they can afford me, there’s a chance I can come back, but they may not be able to afford me.”
Asked if he viewed Monday as a final goodbye to the 49ers, Ward nodded and said it did “kind of feel like that.”
As Ward readies for free agency, he knows one thing about his next destination.
“I just want to go somewhere where I’m wanted and where I’m loved,” Ward said. “I feel like that’s what I need right now, a lot of love.”
