Vikings picked to poach $40.5 million All-Pro cornerback from 49ers in FA splash

The Minnesota Vikings found a temporary fix to their cornerback problems entering 2024, but they’ll have to go back to the well next March.

The Stephon Gilmore signing in August has proven to be a shrewd move, and both Shaq Griffin and Byron Murphy Jr. have helped form one of the NFL’s best defenses through the first half of the season. The problem? All three of those players are impending free agents, along with backup Fabian Moreau, a seventh-year pro now playing for his fifth different team.

Minnesota figures to be active in the cornerback market in 2025. With that top need in mind, Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report predicts the team could attempt to lure starter Charvarius Ward from the San Francisco 49ers in a potential splash move in free agency.

Knox called Minnesota “a logical landing spot” for Ward given their upcoming situation at the position, while naming the Washington Commanders as potential competition.

Is the former undrafted free agent a potential fit for the Vikings? Let's dig deeper.

Buy or sell: Charvarius Ward to the Minnesota Vikings in 2025

Ward was a Pro Bowler last season for the first time in his six-year career. He was a shut-down corner in 2023, leading the NFL with 23 pass breakups while notching five interceptions, 72 total tackles and an opponent passer rating of 56.8, per PFF. 

He’s taken a step back through the first half of 2024, though, grading out as PFF’s No. 82 cornerback through the first nine weeks. It’s possible he hasn’t been 100 percent healthy, as he missed San Francisco’s Thursday Night Football game in Week 6 against the Seattle Seahawks with a knee injury.

Ward is on the right side of 30, set to turn 29 in May. He spent four seasons in Kansas City before joining the 49ers in 2022, so he’s played in a ton of big games, including three career Super Bowls.

His experience and toughness as player who started in community college, transferred to Middle Tennessee State, and went on to carve out a solid NFL career after he wasn't invited to the 2018 scouting combine could be appealing to a Vikings team that’s been looking to get over the hump.