While the plan was never to hold onto Jimmy Garoppolo in 2022, the San Francisco 49ers being "stuck" with the veteran quarterback may have saved their season. Some might argue that retaining Garoppolo was the best move of the offseason.
You also have cornerback Charvarius Ward, though. The former undrafted free agent had just four seasons under his belt before hitting free agency. Nevertheless, the 49ers saw something in Ward that prompted the team to sign him to a lucrative contract.
It may have been their best defensive move of the offseason.
Ward is playing at a high level. He is Pro Football Focus' highest-graded player (88.2) among cornerbacks with at least 185 snaps. In addition, Ward's coverage grade of 81.5 ranks fifth, his run-defense grade of 92.1 ranks second, and his tackling grade of 87.3 ranks first among eligible cornerbacks.
"He's what we hoped he could be like," head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters before Wednesday's practice. "He's been what we hoped for and what we hoped we were going and paying for. I think that's so hard in free agency. We've kind of looked at that almost every year.
"And when you get into free agency, the money gets so high and stuff, and his did too. But to see the player with that money, we thought it would be worth it.
"And for him to come and be exactly what we thought has been great. But it's always hard to do that. It took us a while to be able to do that, but when you do take a swing, you hope you hit, and I really feel like we have."
Opposing quarterbacks own a passer rating of 69.7 when targeting Ward. He's given up just one touchdown this season, per Pro Football Focus. Ward already has eight pass breakups through five games, per Pro Football Reference. He's closing in on his career high of 10 (2019, 2021). What has allowed the veteran cornerback to excel quickly in that area with his new team?
"I think he's never out of control," Shanahan responded. "He's not a guy who misses very much. He's patient with his hands, patient with his feet. He always seems on top of guys, and he has the speed and length to recover too when he's not."
