Here’s the problem with spending big money on a 29-year-old cornerback entering his eighth season in the NFL. That’s what Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard did when he inked Charvarius Ward to a three-year deal worth $54 million last offseason.
Almost every great cornerback in recent history has peaked out by his late 20s. There are some minor exceptions, but almost none of them produce elite performance once they hit 29.
The average age of the cornerbacks selected for this year’s Pro Bowl Games (I still have a hard time remembering to type that “Games” part) is 24.6. The oldest, Denzell Ward, is 28. Half of them are under 25 years old. Clearly, playing cornerback in the NFL is a young man’s game.
Indianapolis Colts’ Charvarius Ward gamble does not appear to be paying off
You can see why Ballard would have been intrigued by Ward. The Colts struggled mightily at cornerback in 2024. Since his arrival in 2017, Ballard had selected three corners in the second round of the draft, and none had panned out. Quincy Wilson and Rock Ya-Sin were long gone, and JuJu Brents was on his way out.
Ballard signed Ward at the beginning of the 2025 free agency period and then spent a third-round draft pick on Justin Walley. Along with veteran Kenny Moore, they figured to be the Colts’ starting trio at corner.
There was no reason to assume Ward would not be a durable player in 2025. He played every game for San Francisco in 2022 and 2023, earning second-team All-Pro honors in the latter. He missed one game due to injury last year, and four more because of an undisclosed personal matter.
Therefore, as cornerbacks go, Charvarius Ward has been relatively healthy and has performed at a high level throughout most of his career.
Seems like a good risk for a cornerback-needy team.
But cornerbacks operate on a different timeline. I’ve long thought that quarterbacks and cornerbacks are the toughest players on a normal football roster. Quarterbacks get clobbered by enormous men multiple times per game. Cornerbacks may have it even harder.
They are usually the smallest players on the field. They typically need sprinter’s speed, with the ability to execute sudden changes of direction. That is a pulled hamstring or twisted ankle just waiting to happen.
They also have to take on pulling linemen who outweigh them by more than one hundred pounds. And of course, their primary job is to get players like Puka Nacua and DK Metcalf on the ground.
That takes a toll on the position. Look back five years. Of the four cornerbacks who made first or second team All-Pro in 2020, two of them – Jaire Alexander and Tre’Davious White – peaked by the time they were 25. Both have averaged fewer than eight games per season since turning 26 years old.
There is one member of that 2020 class who has defied time. Jalen Ramsey made the Pro Bowl this year at 31. However, as has often been the case in situations like this, he has now switched from corner to safety.
Colts’ fans got a good look at what age did to the fourth All-Pro corner from that 2020 season earlier this year. Xavien Howard, who had initially retired at 30, was unable to make a significant contribution for Indy and decided to retire for good after a few weeks.
Ward is several years younger than Howard, and that obviously makes a difference. But his multiple concussions are a cause for major concern. There was no way to predict this particular injury before the season, and one of the concussions was the result of a pre-game fluke. Still, any GM has to understand one basic fact when signing veteran cornerbacks.
They get hurt a lot, and that seriously diminishes their shelf life as an elite performer. Have you been following the Trevon Diggs saga? Do you remember Vontae Davis?
Ward’s three-year contract was essentially a two-year deal. The out after 2026 is not egregious. But if he cannot play – either due to completely understandable retirement or diminished performance – the Colts are on the hook for a major cap hit next year.
They may be able to withstand his absence, provided Sauce Gardner, Justin Walley, Kenny Moore, and several of their younger players step up, but that cap hit will clearly hamstring them.
That’s the risk you take when you sign a cornerback pushing 30.