Jimmie Ward Clashed With Kyle Shanahan on Potential Position Change

The San Francisco 49ers are coming off a tough loss in the NFC Championship Game to the Philadelphia Eagles. After dealing with injuries all season, it was two more injuries to quarterbacks Brock Purdy and Josh Johnson that ultimately did them in.

According to 49ers safety Jimmy Ward, there were issues on the defensive side of the ball after the game too between him and head coach Kyle Shanahan. Ward claims that he went to talk to Shanahan after the game about not wanting to play nickel corner anymore, and Shanahan responded with, "Do you wanna ride the bench?"

Ward has spent his entire nine-year career with San Francisco. He started as a cornerback but then switched to safety, where he spent the majority of his career until this past season.

The 31-year-old is set to be a free agent this offseason, so this type of disagreement with Shanahan could be indicative that his time with the 49ers is done. Ward was still a key contributor last season with a career-high 3 interceptions, so he should have plenty of suitors.

It seems pretty clear, though, that Ward will want to play safety wherever he lands next season.

David Kaestle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, David also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username davekaestle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.