Jimmie Ward enters his fourth season in the NFL playing for the fourth head coach of his career.
Each coaching staff, too, has seemingly had a different vision in how to best utilize the 2014 first-round pick.
Ward mostly lined up as the nickel back in his first two seasons under Jim Harbaugh and Jim Tomsula, before switching to cornerback under Chip Kelly last season. Now, with Kyle Shanahan and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh holding the reins, Ward is being prepared to play the free-safety role for the first time in his professional career.
That preparation, however, has been on hold after Ward suffered a hamstring injury on July 27 that caused him to miss nearly four weeks of training camp.
Ward returned to the field on Wednesday, and Saleh is encouraged to have a big part of his defense back in action.
“It was good to see him,” Saleh said. “He moves around just like he was moving around in OTAs.”
While missing time to practice in full gear hasn’t been ideal for Ward, the Northern Illinois alum has still stayed sharp while healing his hamstring.
“Jimmie, credit to him, he took it upon himself to make sure that he was putting in the extra work from a mental standpoint to get ready.”
Ward may be sharp mentally, but it’s on the physical side that Saleh is aware Ward needs to catch up with, given that he hasn’t had the number of reps that he’d normally have if he were healthy.
“[Middle-third safety is] the hardest tackle in football in my opinion. Those are the reps he hasn’t gotten,” Saleh said. “To put themselves through the mental strain of every rep being a tackling rep. That, to me, is going to be the hardest part.”
It’s still to be determined if Ward will play in the 49ers upcoming preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.