After the 49ers were mostly silent in the first day of open free agent negotiations, they came in late with a stunner.
It had been widely reported that San Francisco, typically careful, if not parsimonious since Richard Sherman in addressing the cornerback position, were looking to make a major upgrade.
The likes of J.C. Jackson — now a Charger on a reported five-year, $82.5 million deal — and Stephon Gilmore were mentioned, but San Francisco opted for the Chiefs’ Charvarius Ward on a deal that guarantees him $26.7 million over three years, which is more than $8.9 million guaranteed per year.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported it slightly differently, with a $40.5 million figure.
The structure of the contract will be interesting, but it has a maximum of a $14 million per year average, per Schefter. That would make Ward somewhere around the 11th highest paid corner in the league by average value per season.
Ward, 25, went undrafted in 2018, but joined the Chiefs that season and became a full-time starter in 2019 through 2021. Ward was ranked as the 21st best corner in the league according to Pro Football Focus last season.
He joins Emmanuel Moseley as the 49ers’ starting corners heading into 2022.