49ers CB Charvarius Ward ready to remind Cowboys of ‘terrible trade’
SANTA CLARA — Charvarius Ward was barely a week into his first NFL training camp, as an undrafted rookie with the Dallas Cowboys in 2018, when one play on their Oxnard field made a lasting impression.
Ward, the no-name in the No. 40 jersey, intercepted a Dak Prescott pass deep toward Michael Gallup. That right there convinced Ward he belonged in the NFL.
“It definitely boosted my confidence,” Ward recalled Thursday. “Being an undrafted corner, I had the No. 40 (jersey), and nobody in the world knew who I was.”
That play-making scene could repeat on Sunday, when Ward and the 49ers host Prescott, Gallup and the Cowboys in a divisional-round playoff game at Levi’s Stadium.
That scene somewhat did repeat last season: Ward intercepted a Prescott pass in the end zone – intended for CeeDee Lamb — in a win for the Kansas City Chiefs, whom the Cowboys traded him to just prior to the 2018 season for a journeyman guard.
“They traded me, so I had a chip on my shoulder, to show them they made a mistake,” Ward said. “It was a terrible trade for them.”
Ward was the 49ers’ prize catch in free agency last March, and, after a banner regular season, he struggled in Saturday’s wild-card win, particularly in his one-on-one matchups with the Seattle Seahawks’ D.K. Metcalf.
That game won’t ruin Ward’s confidence. Factor in his history against Prescott and the Cowboys and, well, he should have all the motivation necessary to rebound Sunday.
“After you have a bad game like that, you know what you’re capable of doing, and you weren’t fully locked in, it pisses you off,” Ward said. “Some people probably doubt me, but I never doubt myself.”
Coach Kyle Shanahan said Ward “played as good as he could vs. D.K.” in the regular season and that a repeat effort in the playoffs was a tall order. Sure enough, Metcalf beat Ward for a 50-yard touchdown and a couple other catches in the 49ers’ 41-23 win.
“He is a problem to stop and I like that Mooney didn’t stop, he didn’t shy away from him once he got beat on that deep ball,” Shanahan said. “… But that’s going to happen with a good player like that. You hope it doesn’t happen too often and Mooney’s done a hell of a job with that all year and I know he will come back and continue to do that this week.”
That confidence stems from Ward’s hard-fought journey to this stage, from McComb, Mississippi to Hines Community College to Middle Tennessee State to the Cowboys, the Chiefs and now three wins away from his second Super Bowl championship.
Of course, an interception on an Oxnard field was an unforgotten stepping stone.
“Every day in camp, they do one-on-ones, and coach (Jason) Garrett, picked me against Michael Gallup, and he was their (third-round) pick that year, so I knew I had some buzz. I picked that one-on-one ball off,” Ward said. “They started calling me ‘Mooney’ then. At first, it was, ‘No. 40.’ They weren’t calling me by my name. After I made that play, coaches started calling me Mooney, and coach Garrett knew my name.”
Ward isn’t the only 49ers cornerback brimming with unshakable confidence.
Deommodore Lenoir’s has never wavered in an up-and-down season as a first-year starter. A fourth-quarter interception in his playoff debut Saturday iced their win over the Seahawks.
“My confidence has always been to the roof since I got here,” Lenoir said. “It’s what you need to carry into this profession. You’re going to make plays, and you’re going to have some made against you.”
Ward, Lenoir and nickel back Jimmie Ward – their starting cornerback trio since Emmanuel Moseley’s Oct. 9 knee injury – certainly are not the cowering type.
“We’re confident with each other, with ourselves. We believe in one another,” Jimmie Ward said. “It’s probably the reason we’ve been playing well.”
They could be in for their biggest challenge since the high-octane Chiefs dealt the 49ers their last loss, Oct. 23, when Charvarius Ward struggled in rushing back from a groin injury.
Prescott passed for 305 yards and four touchdowns – and ran for a touchdown – in Monday night’s 31-14 wild-card win at Tampa, with those touchdowns spread to tight end Dalton Schultz (two), Lamb and Gallup.
Schultz and Gallup were 2018 draft picks when Ward broke in alongside them, until he got dealt to the Chiefs on Aug. 30, 2018 for Parker Ehringer, a guard who would injury his knee in preseason practice and miss 2018 season.
The Cowboys’ current cornerback corps has been hit by injuries, losing starters Anthony Brown (Achilles, last month) and Jourdan Lewis (foot, October). Trevon Diggs is a two-time Pro Bowler and DeRon Bland are their starters; veteran Xavier Rhodes played 29 percent of Monday’s snaps in his Cowboys debut after signing a week earlier.