The Minnesota Vikings took LSU DB Jay Ward with their fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft, No. 134 overall. Ward joins a very young Vikings secondary, a group with only one player, Harrison Smith, 34, over the age of 25. The Vikings are betting on new DC Brian Flores to mold this youth into a strong defense to help the team follow up on its 13-4 record in 2022.
Ward ascended as a starter for the LSU Tigers at the end of the 2020 season and started his final two years with the team. He was used in a very versatile role during the 2022 season. Per PFF, Ward played over 100 snaps lined up at four different positions: in the slot, in the box, as a deep safety, and as an outside corner.
He has a good frame for the position at 6’0 3/4″ tall with 32.5″ arms. But Ward is noticeably thin on the field and weighed only 188 lbs. at the combine despite his height and length. That helped contribute to his underwhelming athletic testing. Ward showed good explosion with a 11′ broad jump and a 1.54 10-yard split. However, he lacked top-end speed with a 4.55 second 40-yard dash, and he clocked in with substandard agility metrics, running a very poor 7.31-second 3-cone.
Ward’s athletic testing makes him seem more like a “tweener” who could struggle to find a role in the NFL than a versatile player who can be used at multiple spots. Ideally, you’d want an outside corner or deep safety to run faster than Ward did. For a slot player, you’d want better quickness than Ward displayed. And for a box safety, you’d want him to bulk up significantly from his 188-lb. weigh-in to take on blocks from linemen and TEs.
With those testing concerns in mind, let’s take a look at Ward’s tape. I watched six of his 2022 games: Mississippi State, Tennessee, Florida, Ole Miss, Alabama, and Georgia. Does he have skills that can translate to being a versatile player that Brian Flores’ defense will covet, or will his athletic deficiencies project to someone who can’t find a way to see an NFL field?
Man coverage
Ward moved to the outside CB position for the final three games of his college career, including the SEC Championship game against Georgia. This provided an opportunity to evaluate him as a man coverage CB. In that game, Ward showed impressive physicality. Here, he’s lined up at the bottom of the screen and executes a hard press on the WR, shutting down the vertical stem of his route:
Ward’s physicality is impressive, and it allowed him to stymie one of the best players in college football last year, Georgia TE Brock Bowers, at the bottom of the screen on the play below:
Ward showed some of the feel and movement skills required to be an outside corner as well. On the play below, he starts at the top of the screen in off-man coverage and drives effectively on a dig route. This is nice because the WR’s goal is to threaten vertically to allow himself space to work underneath. But Ward is able to trust his speed enough that he is in position to drive on the ball:
Despite flashing the quickness to drive on those plays, Ward consistently struggled to cover route breaks. In the compilation below, Ward is in the slot at the top of the screen for the first three plays, the slot at the bottom for the fourth, and designated by the arrow in the fifth. In them, he allows open receivers multiple times, including on a TD, and also holds his opponents because he lacks the quickness to cover the route break:
Ward’s lack of top-end speed also shows up consistently. SEC WRs routinely outran him. On the compilation of plays below, Ward is the safety at the top on the first play, in the slot at the top on the second, in the slot at the bottom on the third and fourth, and outside corner at the bottom on the final play. He gets outrun in all of them, and it often leads to him grabbing opponents:
Ward’s athletic shortcomings are probably going to prevent him from being a true man corner, even in the slot, in the NFL. There are ways for him to make up for his lack of speed, but the quickness issues would make NFL slot receivers a difficult cover. Where Ward might be able to find his niche, though, is in covering TEs. His below-average speed and quickness are still good against TEs, and he has the length and the physicality to match TEs like Bowers and third-round pick Cameron Latu from Alabama. On the two plays below, Ward shows he can match up with Latu on over routes (Latu starts at the line of scrimmage closest to the camera on both plays):
Zone Coverage
Ward is strong on the mental side of the game. He shows an understanding of coverages and communicates well with his teammates. On the play below, you can see Ward’s teammate ask him a question pre-snap that he is able to answer quickly. Physical signs of communication from Ward show up often.
In zone coverage, Ward is diligent about carrying out his responsibilities. On the play below, LSU checks into a quarters look on Ward’s side of the field (in the slot at the bottom of the screen) after a motion by the offense. Ward collides with No. 2 vertical while getting outside quickly to his flat responsibility. He also has the wherewithal to see the swing pass and make the tackle for a limited gain.
Ward consistently shows the ability to process multiple visual cues. Here, starting in the slot at the top, he moves with No. 2 vertical before peeling to cover the in route by the outside receiver. He also has his eyes in the backfield and sees the throw to the drag route coming across the field, driving on that receiver to prevent any yards after the catch.
Ward’s spatial awareness is good. He moves based on the cues he receives from the QB. On the play below, he starts as kind of a box safety at the top of the formation. His responsibility is a vertical hook zone, and he reads the QB’s eyes to fall back and undercut a potential throw on a deep over from the opposite side of the field:
Ward’s best play is when he is asked to come downhill. Despite long speed and quickness concerns, Ward is explosive driving on the ball against curl routes. Ward is in the slot to the bottom on this play and drives on the throw to help break up the pass:
Here, on third-and-long, Ward is the safety at the top of the screen. He matches a curl route from the innermost receiver, and drives to make a tackle short of the sticks, showing good spatial awareness.
Ball Skills
Despite being grabby when he is in bad position, Ward generally shows good ball skills. He does not violate the receiver’s right to the ball when he is in position. On the play below, Ward (slot at the bottom) holds at the route break but also uses his length to get around the receiver (second-round pick Jonathan Mingo) to tip the pass, leading to an interception. That length will come in handy against bigger receivers and TEs.
Ward had just one interception in 2022, but it showcases his ability to break on the ball and make a play in zone coverage. Against Mississippi State, he is the deep safety to the top of the screen. As the deep safety in a Cover 3 look against a 3×1 formation, he reads the QB’s intention to throw the post and breaks on the ball, which is behind the receiver, making the catch for a pick:
Tackling
As a tackler, Ward violently rushes towards the ball carrier but does not always play under control enough to make a good tackle attempt. Ward will overcommit and make diving attempts where he fails to wrap the ball carrier, like the play below where he starts in the slot at the bottom of the screen:
On this play against Georgia, he starts as the outside corner to the bottom and folds in to fill the hole at the line of scrimmage. Ward lowers his shoulder into the RB instead of trying to wrap him, and the bigger back bounces off of him, gaining significant yardage.
While Ward’s technique needs to be cleaned up, he is an aggressive, willing tackler. That tradeoff is one I’m willing to make to view his tackling and attitude as a positive. Here is a compilation of him making tackles:
Run Defense
The physicality Ward plays with above is a big positive for him in run defense. The negative side are the angles he approaches the run game with. He regularly found himself out of position, leading to big gains for the opposing offense. The major issue is that he is too willing to fold inside when he is supposed to be the force player on the play.
On the play below, he is in the slot at the top of the screen and needs to prevent the RB from running outside, which he fails to do:
This happened multiple times in the Georgia game as well, like on the play below where he is the outside corner at the top of the screen:
Or on this play where he is the outside corner at the bottom:
Still, Ward’s willingness to put his body on the line is impressive. On this play, he (furthest left linebacker) goes around a TE and tries to go underneath a lineman, who hooks him for what should probably be a holding call:
Here, he comes into the box late and takes on an offensive lineman:
He will need to be careful in the NFL, because he likes to go low on O-linemen and TEs. It’s hard for any DB to take on a much bigger opponent, but Ward’s lack of weight probably makes it even more difficult. The natural instinct is to cut low, but that is no longer allowed for DBs outside the box in the NFL.
Here, he starts as outside corner at the bottom and gets called for a penalty going low on Darnell Washington:
Blitzing
Ward blitzed 15 times in his final season at LSU. His blitzing shows the aggression he displays in run defense, but the tackling issue also showed up in this rep against Florida below. Admittedly, it’s against Anthony Richardson, one of the best QB athletes we’ve seen ever, and I like how he defeats the RB’s block.
Ward recorded a hit blitzing from the slot at the bottom of the screen against Bryce Young and Alabama:
Summary
Jay Ward is a long, physical defensive back. In man coverage, he can disrupt timing and defeat receivers and tight ends with press coverage. However, he lacks the long speed to keep pace with NFL-caliber speed and does not have the quickness to keep with slot receivers. This may be a correctable technique issue, as he often plays off of his back foot. When he loses, he tends to grab on to his opponent, leading to penalties. Ward’s length and physicality lend to him shutting down tight ends in man coverage.
In zone, Ward has good instincts and a feel for routes developing behind him. He is best with his eyes in the backfield, diagnosing the QB’s intentions and driving on passes in front of him. Ward uses his length effectively to break up passes, and his instincts often allow him to be in the position to do so when in zone.
When a short pass is completed, or a play is run to the flat, Ward will aggressively attack upfield and can work past WR and TE blocks. Ward makes violent tackles that are sometimes out of control, and he needs to be more intentional about wrapping up defenders. In run defense, Ward is willing to throw his body at bigger blockers but will not take them on directly. If he did, his smaller weight would hurt his ability to defeat blockers. As a force player, he often lets his aggression get the better of him. He will be influenced by RBs to dive inside instead of maintaining his outside leverage. This leads to big plays as opponents bounce the ball to the edge.
Fit with the Vikings
In Brian Flores’ defense, Ward’s best path to success seems to be as a TE eraser. While he lacks the speed to stick with the NFL’s best receivers, and doesn’t have the quickness to cover slot receivers, his length and athleticism are a good matchup for TEs. Hopefully that will translate to the NFL level. He is best as an apex, or slot defender, ideally aligned over the opposing TE. He has the willingness to make tackles in the short area of the field, and plays zone very well for when the defense wants to mix up coverage. Ward also has the versatility to both blitz and play deep, which would play to Flores’ preference of having multiple players in the secondary.
It remains to be seen if Ward will succeed at the NFL level. He has some athletic limitations, and will likely need to bulk up to see an NFL field. But his aggression, intelligence, and length indicate he should be able to carve out a role in an NFL secondary.
