$100 million CB who Cowboys traded as rook says they 'don't make a lot of good decisions'
Mistakes were made. The year was 2018, and the Dallas Cowboys had what they felt was a logjam at the cornerback position. With Byron Jones and Anthony Brown in tow, the club had selected back-to-back corners in 2017, with Chidobe Awuzie and Jourdan Lewis in the second and third round. The team was also very high on several depth pieces, including Duke Thomas, Donovan Olumba and a UDFA named Charvarius Ward.
Not planning to have any of the three on the 53-man roster, the Cowboys engineered a trade for some OL depth, their weakest position group, sending Ward to the Kansas City Chiefs for Parker Ehringer. Ehringer ended up going on IR within a week and never played a down for the Cowboys. Ward, meanwhile, worked his way into the Chiefs' rotation, and their starting lineup in just his second season.
Since, he's made a Pro Bowl (in 2023 with the San Francisco 49ers), and has earned over $100 million in contracts, including his new three-year deal with the Indianapolis Colts. In sitting down with the media at his new home, he took the time to reflect on that trade that set his career in motion and bluntly stated the Cowboys didn't know what they had in him.
#Colts CB Charvarius Ward on being undrafted in 2018 and getting traded by the #Cowboys:
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) March 19, 2025
"I was strappin' all them boys. I thought I was making the team, but Dallas don't make a lot of good decisions so they traded me." 💀
(via @Colts, h/t @Colts_Law)pic.twitter.com/5a6l3iJHmh
Ward has been a starter every season since 2019, while the depth players in the secondary from the Cowboys' Week 1 roster have long been forgotten. Tyree Robinson, a safety, was a placeholder option while Xavier Woods recovered from a hamstring injury and was released after one game. He never played in the NFL again after 2018. Ibraheim Campbell was a journeyman depth piece who had bounced around the league before and after his Dallas stint.
Every team has a player or two they made bad decisions with, and Ward's sensational career is a walking reminder of one the Cowboys screwed up on.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: New Colts CB Charvarius Ward disses Cowboys for trading him as rookie
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