49ers defensive end Arik Armstead doesn’t anticipate any changes to his role this season. Free safety Jimmie Ward doesn’t share that sentiment about his place in the secondary.
Ward on Tuesday was on a video conference call with 49ers reporters and discussed what he anticipates his role being this season. After explaining that he signed to play safety and not corner — which he played at various points for the 49ers during his first five seasons — Ward went on to drop a hint that some new wrinkles could be coming in the 49ers’ pass defense.
“Just make sure you watch that first game because I could be anywhere,” Ward said per the Sacramento Bee. “Could be playing safety, could be man coverage, could be blitzing, could be playing zone, who knows? We’ll see.”
It would seem counterintuitive to start tinkering with a defense that finished No. 1 in the NFL last season against the pass. The NFL is a league of adjustments though so seeing a version of the 49ers’ defense that utilizes Ward’s versatility more freely wouldn’t be a huge surprise. He’s capable of lining up at outside corner and spent some time covering in the slot last year — most notably coming up with a pair of pass breakups at the end of the 49ers’ Week 6 win over the Rams.
Defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator Joe Woods exited in the offseason and opened the door for Tony Oden to take over as the DB coach, and Mike Rutenberg to take over as the pass game coordinator. They could throw in some of their own new wrinkles to the secondary, but it’s worth noting we may have gotten a glimpse of those impending changes during the Super Bowl.
Backup free safety Tarvarius Moore played five defensive snaps in the Super Bowl while Ward and strong safety Jaquiski Tartt each played 100 percent. That three safety look generated a pass breakup and an interception for Moore and freed up Ward to roam elsewhere on the field in coverage.
The sample size is small, but the change worked well enough to wonder whether San Francisco will deploy it more this season. It seems like something of that sort could be coming based on what Ward intimated in his Tuesday press conference, and with Moore a possible long-term option at safety for the 49ers, it would make sense if they tried to get him on the field more often.
Ward was very good in his role as San Francisco’s free safety last season. Now he could be expanding that in a year where the 49ers pass defense has a steep hill to climb to put on an encore performance.
[vertical-gallery id=660049]