{"id":34886,"date":"2025-03-21T07:56:18","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T07:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34886"},"modified":"2025-03-21T07:56:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T07:56:18","slug":"chiefs-pursued-charvarius-ward-reunion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34886","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs Pursued Charvarius Ward Reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Establishing a clear M.O. during the\u00a0Andy Reid-Steve Spagnuolo<\/strong>\u00a0years, the Chiefs have preferred to make their key cornerbacks one-contract players. A recent reminder of this strategy emerged last year, when the team traded\u00a0L\u2019Jarius Sneed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

After a Super Bowl LIX effort that saw the Eagles pick on Sneed replacement\u00a0J<\/a>aylen Watson<\/strong>, the Chiefs showed more interest in making a notable cornerback payment. Kansas City signed\u00a0Kristian Fulton<\/strong>\u00a0to a two-year, $20MM deal. The ex-Titans and Chargers defender will be positioned to play opposite\u00a0Trent McDuffie<\/strong>\u00a0next season, but his signing came after the Chiefs pursued a reunion with one of the CBs they let walk in the past.<\/p>\n

\"\"The three-time reigning AFC champions were in the\u00a0Charvarius Ward<\/strong>\u00a0market,\u00a0according to SI.com\u2019s Albert Breer. Ward, whom Kansas City turned from UDFA to upper-echelon starter after acquiring him via trade from the Cowboys, ended up signing with the Colts. Indianapolis deviated from its general blueprint as well, paying both Ward and\u00a0Camryn Bynum<\/strong>\u00a0on Day 1 of the legal tampering period.\u00a0Chris Ballard\u2019<\/strong>s team\u00a0gave Ward a three-year, $54MM deal; it appears the Chiefs helped push that market to its endpoint.<\/p>\n

Acquired straight up in a late-summer trade for guard\u00a0Parker Ehinger<\/strong>\u00a0in 2018, Ward became a primary Chiefs starter ahead of their Super Bowl LIV-winning 2019 season. Ward started three full seasons with the Chiefs, who moved on from the likes of\u00a0Marcus Peters<\/strong>,\u00a0Steven Nelson<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Kendall Fuller<\/strong>\u00a0during that time period. When it came time to pay Ward in 2022, Kansas City passed and let San Francisco\u00a0hand out a three-year, $40.5MM deal. The Chiefs were able to get by without Ward, drafting McDuffie and turning to Sneed as an every-down player, but Ward also rewarded the 49ers.<\/p>\n

When the Chiefs faced the Niners to wrap the 2023 season, Ward had received second-team All-Pro honors. He operated as a three-year starter in San Francisco, and while coverage metrics did not view the soon-to-be 29-year-old\u2019s form on the level of his 2022 and \u201923 campaigns, the boundary defender generated a big market. Receiving\u00a0$27MM guaranteed at signing, Ward joined\u00a0Byron Murphy<\/strong>,\u00a0Carlton Davis<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Paulson Adebo<\/strong>\u00a0in signing an $18MM-per-year deal. Ward, Murphy, Davis and\u00a0D.J. Reed<\/strong>\u00a0($16MM AAV) established a new market for third-contract CBs.<\/p>\n

Ward will join\u00a0Kenny Moore<\/strong>\u00a0in Indianapolis, while Kansas City must now determine whether to break from its general Reid-years plan and give McDuffie a monster extension. The decorated cover man is now extension-eligible, but once the Chiefs pick up his fifth-year option, the 2022 first-rounder will be under contract through 2026. That will give the team time, though the once-stagnant CB market has risen over the past several months. McDuffie will be quite expensive to extend, and it will be interesting to see if the Chiefs pay their top Reid-era corner the new going rate.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on the Chiefs\u2019 roster, they did bring in two of Ward\u2019s recent 49ers teammates. Kansas City\u2019s contract for ex-Christian McCaffrey<\/strong>\u00a0backup\u00a0Elijah Mitchell<\/strong>\u00a0checks in at one year and $2.5MM\u00a0in base value ($1.35 guaranteed), NFL.com\u2019s Tom Pelissero\u00a0tweets. This came after\u00a0Jaylon Moore<\/strong>\u00a0signed to be the team\u2019s new left tackle.<\/p>\n

Coming off a full-season absence, the injury-prone RB still scored a $1.1MM base salary guarantee from the Chiefs,\u00a0via KPRC2\u2019s Aaron Wilson. The Chiefs, however, re-signed\u00a0Kareem Hunt<\/strong>\u00a0after agreeing to\u00a0terms with Mitchell. These two are poised to back up\u00a0Isiah Pacheco<\/strong>, who is not expected to be considered for an extension until he\u00a0can show pre-injury form after suffering\u00a0a broken leg last September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Establishing a clear M.O. during the\u00a0Andy Reid-Steve Spagnuolo\u00a0years, the Chiefs have preferred to make their key cornerbacks one-contract players. A recent reminder of this strategy emerged last… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\nChiefs Pursued Charvarius Ward Reunion - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=34886\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chiefs Pursued Charvarius Ward Reunion - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Establishing a clear M.O. during the\u00a0Andy Reid-Steve Spagnuolo\u00a0years, the Chiefs have preferred to make their key cornerbacks one-contract players. 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