Kansas City Chiefs CB Charvarius Ward had a miniature breakout season in 2019, his first season as a starter. He’ll have more attention than ever before as a starter in 2020, with counterpart Bashaud Breeland suspended for the first four games to start the season. Ward will be asked to step up and shut down the best receivers on every team.
Our friend Doug Farrar at Touchdown Wire believes that Ward is capable of accomplishing that. In a recent article naming defensive breakout candidates for the 2020 season, Farrar identified Ward as someone on the Chiefs’ defense due for a breakout. Here’s what he had to say about Ward:
“In late August of 2018, the Cowboys traded Ward, an undrafted rookie out of Middle Tennessee State, for offensive lineman Parker Ehinger. Ehinger never played a snap for Dallas before moving on to Baltimore in 2019, where he played 54 snaps in 2019. Meanwhile, Ward found a rotational role in Bob Sutton’s underwhelming Chiefs defense in 2018 before finding religion under Steve Spagnuolo in 2019. Last season, Ward allowed just 48 catches on 100 targets for 796 yards, 249 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 73.6. A long, angular, feisty defender, Ward had a couple of rocky games last season, but was on point for the most part, and he’s a developing cornerback with “island” potential.”
One thing that Farrar fails to mention in his analysis, Ward can finally see and not in a metaphorical sense either. Ward had offseason LASIK surgery following Super Bowl LIV. He previously experienced both far-sightedness and near-sightedness. He had headaches and occasionally went cross-eyed. To say it was problematic and impacted his game might be an understatement, but he refused to use that as an excuse. But now his vision is as close to perfect as it has ever been.
“I finally can see,” Ward told Kansas City Star reporter Sam Mellinger in July. “First time being able to really see good.”
Now that Ward has the eyesight to complement his natural abilities his reaction time might improve. He might be able to turn a few of those 10 passes defended from the 2019 season into interceptions. His goal as he told Mellinger is to “intercept everything.”
He has the ability and opportunity to turn 2020 into his best season yet, he just has to go out there and get it done.