When the Jacksonville Jaguars take the field Sunday, there will be several personnel members and players who a very familiar with the organization on the opposite side in the San Francisco 49ers. The most notable, of course, will be current general manager Trent Baalke, who once held the same title for the Niners.
While he hasn’t been with the organization since 2016, there are still starters in the organization who Baalke drafted. Safety Jimmie Ward is one of them as he was selected with the No. 30 overall pick in 2014 and is currently the longest-tenured Niner on the team.
Earlier this week, Ward was asked about his relationship with Baalke and told the media that he was thankful that the former Niners headman brought him into the organization. However, he added that his most memorable encounter with Baalke was a postgame conversation with him where Baalke questioned his knowledge of the cover-3 concept.
“I still think about the day that, I think it was after the [New York] Giants game, playing cover-3,” Ward said this week, according to NBC Sports. “He came up to me and was like, ‘Jimmie, you don’t know how to play cover-3?’ I’m like ‘I’m the buzz player. I’m doing the right thing. You need to look at your other guys. Who ever is in the hook be pushing the hook on the slant.’ That’s something I’ll never forget.
“I couldn’t say that back then. I can say it now, because the players aren’t here, and Trent isn’t here. [I thought] ‘I know I’m a rookie so you’re going to pin it on me but I can’t play the hook and the buzz.’ All right, but shout out to Trent. I wanted to get that off my chest. I’ve been waiting for eight years to get that off my chest.”
Talk about an interesting encounter.
Whether Ward was in the right or wrong during that particular snap, he’s obviously been pretty solid for the Niners as he’s still with them. Ward has especially come on strong the last three seasons, acquiring overall grades of 76.6, 73.5, and 76.7, respectively, on Pro Football Focus dating back from 2019 to now. He’s also registered 66 starts while racking up 362 combined tackles and four picks throughout his eight seasons in San Francisco.
As for Baalke, fans have been on record for saying they hope he’s learned some valuable lessons from how his tenure with the Niners went. His encounter with Ward is definitely a situation that would fit that bill, as front office members trying to play the role of a coach never goes well and can rub players the wrong way. After all, we’ve seen that before with the last regime, and it led to memories that are still fresh in the minds of Jags fans.