Strengths
Without a doubt, Ward’s best trait is his man coverage abilities given his length and speed to stick with receivers. He use his long arms to get his hands in there to break up passes. He demonstrates very good technique coming off the line of scrimmage (LOS) with flexible hips and quick feet to get turned around quickly and get in phase. In his four starts last season, including the two playoff games, Ward came away with seven pass deflections.
Ward with outside leverage and keeps over the top of his receiver using his length and athleticism to get around the receiver and make a play on the ball pic.twitter.com/tvSBfvq63v
— Travis Steffen (@nflstuff999) August 8, 2019
As you can see in the play above, Ward lines up at the LOS with outside leverage given the single high safety in the middle of the field. He stays on the hip of the receiver here even through his break keeping that outside leverage and over the top to ensure he’s not beaten for a touchdown. When the ball is thrown, Ward gets his arms around the receiver to make a play on the ball.
Cornerbacks don’t just acquire ball skills. They either have it or they don’t and when you play the cornerback position in today’s NFL, you have to have ball skills to be looked at as a good cornerback. The ability to make plays on the ball also demonstrates other traits in your game, such as athletic ability and mental processing. Here is a great example of where Ward improved as he got more reps with this curl route against Indianapolis Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Ward's ability to process and stick with his receiver on comeback and curl routes improved following the Seattle game. Stays locked on Hilton's hip here and get his arms around to make a PD coming out of the break. pic.twitter.com/Lj24UWVfdt
— Travis Steffen (@nflstuff999) August 8, 2019
As you can see, Ward keeps his eyes on the feet of his assignment, and the second that Hilton stutter steps to come back for a curl route, Ward stops with him and gets his hands around to play the ball anticipating the throw. The undrafted free agent knows how to rattle wide receivers with his sticky man coverage and consistent pass breakups. His ability to stick with receivers and stay attached to the hip is very impressive even against some of the quicker receivers that he faced.
Ward completely takes Nelson out of this play using the boundary and squeezing Nelson to the sideline while getting his head turned around to locate the ball. pic.twitter.com/7Q3zlM8MTG
— Travis Steffen (@nflstuff999) August 8, 2019
Ward knows how to use the boundary and squeeze routes to take receivers out of a play. Here he’s lined up against Jordy Nelson on a vertical route where he’s attached to his hip, moves his eyes from Nelson’s feet to his eyes past the 10-15 yard mark, and begins squeezing the route while getting his head around and getting his arm up to not draw the flag.
Another major trait for cornerbacks is the ability to shake off getting beat. It doesn’t matter how gifted a cornerback is, if he can’t maintain that lockdown mindset and confidence after getting beat. I don’t have that worry with Ward after the games I watched. Here is an example just two plays after he got beat on a double move against the Colts.
You hear it all the time, cornerbacks need the ability to shake off getting beat to have success in the NFL. Ward does that well just two plays following getting beat by the double move getting this PD in the endzone. pic.twitter.com/CoqvzJPgjF
— Travis Steffen (@nflstuff999) August 8, 2019
When it comes to Ward, he’s most comfortable playing press man coverage, utilizing his speed, length, and physicality to take away receivers. Given his size and length mixed with his speed, it would be the best way to deploy him which is going to be interesting in 2019 under a new style of defense.