The San Francisco 49ers in March re-signed Jimmie Ward to a three-year deal worth up to $28.5 million. That's an average salary of $9.5 million over the life of the contract, but it wasn't the largest offer the safety received as he briefly tested the free-agency waters.
Ward has been reluctant to name the other team that made the competing offer. ESPN did note that the Las Vegas Raiders were believed to be interested in the defensive back's services, but doesn't specify whether or not they made an offer.
Ward said Thursday during a KNBR interview that he didn't want to change positions yet again, and preferred to continue playing safety.
"One reason, I didn't mention to nobody else that I told my agent that I didn't want to start (playing) nickel," Ward said on the Murph & Mac show. "The only way I would start (at) nickel for a team is if they would let me start at safety. So I would have to play two positions."
Ward said that once that was taken off the table, he was left with three interested teams, including San Francisco. In the end, he decided to return to the 49ers because of familiarity. Ward also didn't want to start over with a completely new roster in a different city when his team of the past six years was already a championship-caliber squad.
"I've been in San Fran through the ups and downs, through the adversity," Ward continued. "So, [going to] another team, yes, I might get paid more, but I've got to help build that other team up."
Ward did note something about the teams that offered a larger contract.
"The teams that was offering, one of the teams was a borderline playoff team, and the other team was trying to get to the playoffs," Ward revealed. "Who knows? It would have been a question mark if they would have went to the playoffs in 2020 or not. We don't know.
"But San Fran, they're competing. They're a playoff team. Some people say we may even get back to the Super Bowl. Who knows? At the end of the day, the 49ers ended up giving me an offer that I felt comfortable with, and I decided to come back."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Ward below.
