Mooney Ward spoke with Mike Silver and was refreshingly honest about not receiving an extension from the 49ers, and how that affected him in 2024
The Athletic’s Mike Silver caught up with former San Francisco 49ers cornerback Charvarius Ward, who is now with the Indianapolis Colts.
Ward was tremendous during his time with the Niners. He was recognized as one of the best corners during his tenure in the Bay Area and earned an All-Pro nod during the 2023 Super Bowl run.
Ward told Silver, “I kind of got my joy back, my happiness back, my smile back, and everything like that. I’ve got a lot of optimism right now.” That should make anybody smile after knowing the traumatic events Mooney went through last season with his family.
Ward was brutally honest with Silver, telling him, “Once I came back, every game after that, I was just like, ‘I don’t give a f**k what happens. I don’t care if I win this rep; I don’t care if I lose this rep.’ I was there physically, but mentally, I was somewhere off the grid, off the globe.”
How could you blame Ward? The fact that he showed up to work was shocking. Ward was asked to play a vicious, violent sport and do so after he lost his daughter, who had just celebrated her second birthday. The fact that Ward came back at all reveals the kind of character he has and the type of man and teammate Mooney is.
Ward’s transparency was refreshing. He told Silver, “Even before everything happened with my baby, I really wasn’t super motivated.” It made sense at the time for the 49ers to extend Ward. We discussed the possibility of Mooney getting extended during the offseason after the Niners’ Super Bowl.
The 49ers were trying to keep the band together for one final run, and Mooney was coming off a career year, had given you two elite seasons at corner, was 28, and an extension would have created more money to pay for an inevitable Brandon Aiyuk extension.
However, the 49ers made it clear to Ward that he was going to play out the final year of his deal. That did not sit well with Charvarius.
He told Silver, “Because after the year I had in ‘23, I wanted a contract extension — because I wanted to stay — and I knew I wasn’t getting a contract offer. They came to me and kind of told me what it was, ‘cause they had (other) people to pay. So it kind of had me in my feelings a little bit. I just never made it public.
I was hurt when I realized I wasn’t getting a contract extension or even an offer for an extension. So, I wasn’t motivated; like, from OTAs all the way through camp, I was kind of pissed off. I knew when the season started it was a wrap for me in the Bay.”
The 49ers were the kings of the NFC. And when you feel like you’re the reason for the team winning, you’re going to want to be paid as such. That happened for most of the roster, like Aiyuk, Christian McCaffrey, and Trent Williams, but Mooney was the odd man out. What rubbed Ward the wrong way was the fact that he was in the building, present, and still wasn’t recognized for showing up:
“Everybody feels that when certain guys are not around and certain guys are around but not participating. Like, I was there. I had surgery after the season under the advice of them, and I was rehabbing with them. I had (been) All-Pro, too, and I didn’t get paid so I was like, “What the f**k?’ Like, people are not showing up and getting paid, and I wasn’t. So, it definitely made me feel some type of way. That type of stuff, it does take a toll on the whole team.”
That almost reads as if Ward felt like the front office was playing favorites. When in reality, the 49ers elected to pay Deommodore Lenoir over him. And Ward isn’t sour about it, telling Silver, “They kept it real all year. They never hid anything from me, so that’s why I respect those guys. It’s all love.”
Mooney gave Lenoir his flowers: “And they got Demo, so I mean, you know, they drafted him, and he’s younger than me. They probably like Demo a little bit better. He’s a little more physical and aggressive than me. I can lock anybody down. Kyle and John, they want head-busters. I mean, I’m not mad. He got what he deserved. All-Pros don’t grow on trees, though.”
It’s impossible to understand what could have been going through Ward’s mind last Winter. In the article, he said he was ready to get back to being himself around the Cowboys game, only to lose his child two days later. That’s when his care factor plummeted again. And again, how could you blame him?