Charvarious Ward's Excellence in Kansas City Should Lead to a Big Payday

Brett Veach found a hidden gem in 2018, and since then, Charvarius Ward has exceeded even his steepest expectations. Now, Ward's future with the team needs to be decided. And it probably won't be cheap.

Veach, as one of the best moves in his still-short tenure as Chiefs GM, acquired the Middle Tennessee State corner from the Dallas Cowboys before the 2018 season, sending guard Parker Ehinger to Dallas. Since that trade, Ehinger bounced around the league on practice squads while Ward earned his role as the team's top cornerback.

Ward had a quiet but very successful 2019 as the Chiefs made their run through the Super Bowl. Ward ranked as a top cornerback in the league in 2019 and has continued to improve since his first start in late 2018, showing immense growth for a player who was just an undrafted free agent two years ago.

So, will Ward be a long-term building block for the Chiefs' defense? Like so many questions about NFL futures, this is probably going to be answered by money.

Because Ward was an undrafted free agent, he was given a three-year contract instead of the standard four-year rookie deal. After these three-year UDFA deals, many players become restricted free agents. This is the next step for Ward.

I covered restricted free agency in my series on NFL contracts, but the long and short of it is that the original team of a restricted free agent has the right of first refusal when it comes to teams bidding on that player. The team puts either a first-, second-, or original-round tender on the player. Once this is done, the bidding can begin. If the original team doesn’t match an offer on a restricted free agent, they lose the player but get back the draft pick of the tender they put on the player from the team who signed him.

Each type of tender has a different monetary value assigned to it, with first-round tenders being the most expensive. In the 2020 offseason, the first-round tender cost was $4.64 million, the second-round tender cost was $3.26 million, and the original-round tender cost was $2.13 million. These figures increase every year by the amount the salary cap increases or at a minimum of 5%.

How will this relate to Charvarius Ward specifically? Ward is a restricted free agent after the 2020 season. This means the Chiefs will have to either give Ward a new contract or tender him in order to keep him for 2021. Considering teams will probably be very interested in Ward, the Chiefs might be forced to use the first-round tender on him. The cost of this tender, using the 5% minimum, would be around $4.87 million.

What about beyond the 2021 season?

After 2021, Ward will have earned his four accrued seasons needed to become an unrestricted free agent. This means only a new contract or franchise tag will guarantee Ward stays in Kansas City. What would that new long-term contract look like?

A complete comparison to Ward is a bit hard to find because Ward was an undrafted free agent and his contract is still two offseasons away. Even with imperfect comparisons, we can look at two cornerback signings from offseason: James Bradberry and Bradley Roby.

Bradberry signed a contract for three years and $43.5 million in total money, with $31.9 million guaranteed.

Roby signed a three-year, $31.5 million deal with $19 million guaranteed.

Ward has proven that he belongs in this company, and if he continues on that track, he will command a similar deal.

In taking all of this into account, Ward’s new contract in the 2022 offseason could look something like this:

Ward gets three years, $43.75 million with $21 million guaranteed.

This contract has the same amount of total money as Bradberry but less guaranteed. This ensures Ward, who at this point in the future would have played three years for minimal money, gets the big payday he would deserve by the 2022 offseason.

There is still a lot of time before the Chiefs have to shell out this kind of cash for Charvarius Ward, and many things can change between then and now. The Chiefs' financial future is going to be under a microscope with Patrick Mahomes, Chris Jones, and Travis Kelce up for contracts in the next few years, in addition to Ward. It’s hard to say where Ward fits in the Chiefs' plans, and that will become more clear as other futures are determined.

One thing is clear: if Ward continues to improve on what he’s built the last few years, it’ll be hard for the Chiefs to let Ward walk.