Safety Jimmie Ward has played his last down with the Texans. The team plans to release Ward, Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 reports. The 34-year-old will contemplate retirement, Wilson adds.
After spending the first nine seasons of his career in San Francisco, Ward joined Houston on a two-year, $13MM pact in March 2023. The move reunited Ward with Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans, who was the 49ers’ defensive coordinator from 2021-22.
Ward was a full-time starter in each of his first two years with the Texans, but his long-running injury troubles transferred to Houston. He logged just one full season in San Francisco and missed between one and nine games in the other eight years.
Ward went on to post back-to-back 10-game seasons with the Texans. Hip and hamstring problems limited Ward in 2023, and groin and foot issues shelved him the next season.
As Ward was recovering from two foot surgeries last offseason, he was arrested twice – first in June on an assault family violence impeding breath/circulation charge and again in August for violating his bail by consuming alcohol. The league moved Ward from the reserve/PUP list to the commissioner’s exempt list in late August. Ward’s case went before a grand jury in September, but the prosecution did not proceed with felony domestic violence charges. He then came off the commissioner’s exempt list. There was optimism at the time that Ward would play in 2025, but he stayed on the reserve/PUP list all season.
Ward would have been due a $2.75MM base salary had the Texans gone forward with him next season. In releasing Ward, the Texans will save $750K while taking on $2MM in dead money. Houston is roughly $8.6MM over the cap as of now.
Bring him back, John Lynch!