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(10 MONTHS LATER)
The Colts’ Charvarius Ward on Concussions: ‘If I Walk Away, I Won’t Regret It'
(By Nathan Brown)
https://archive.ph/CHsRr#selection-477.0-493.28
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INDIANAPOLIS – Charvarius Ward bumped his head a couple of days ago and the “crazy” headaches came racing back.
4 weeks removed from his latest concussion – the third of his 2025 season with the Colts, and what he believes is the fourth of his football career – debilitating migraines still linger. And the thoughts – the ones about the dreaded R- word – are again, as they were in October and early November, very real.
The All-Pro cornerback’s father wants his son to retire. Talking to Ward on Monday morning at the Colts facility on locker cleanout day and it’s abundantly clear just how real the prospect is for the 29-year-old who signed a lucrative three-year contract worth $54 million last spring – one that came with a $20 million signing bonus, $27 million in guaranteed money and another $7.98 million guaranteed, so long as he’s on the roster come March 17th.
But that’s no longer assured.
“I don’t know. I’ve got to talk to my family, because if I’m working out, and I bump my head on something – and hopefully I don’t do that and get a headache from something so small,” said Ward, who then admitted he had experienced exactly that only days ago. “We’ll just see how it goes. I’m not trying to have migraines and headaches for the rest of my life.
“My dad wants me to retire but I don’t think I’m gonna. I just have to see how I feel this offseason. But I do know going into next season, if I do come back and play again, if I get one more (concussion), I’ll for sure probably retire. Hopefully, knock-on-wood, I don’t get any more and have to deal with that anymore, but it was crazy dealing with all those headaches. It’s a painful, frustrating thing.”
Ward came to Indianapolis to escape trauma he and his fiancé suffered in San Francisco after their daughter, Amani Joy, died in October of 2024 due to heart issues just shy of her second birthday. Months later, the couple gave birth to another child – a baby boy, Charvarius Jr. – but nearly lost him during the birthing process.
The former undrafted free agent corner out of Middle Tennessee State, who spent his first four years in Kansas City and three with the 49ers, told reporters a year ago as he prepared to enter free agency that he didn’t believe he could return to San Francisco after the debilitating off-field moments. He signed with Indianapolis a couple months later – a team sorely in need of an impact cornerback where he immediately became the focal point of a Lou Anarumo-led unit.
Ward would play all of seven games – held out of Week 2 while in concussion protocol from symptoms that cropped up the day after the team’s season-opening win against Miami before missing five more when he collided in pregame warmups hours ahead of a Week 6 home game with teammate Drew Ogletree in on-field warm-ups.
The hit knocked Ward out and delivering a black eye that was the least of his worries. For the next month, he’d battle dizziness, nausea, light sensitivity and frequent debilitating headaches that had him seriously considering retirement. Eventually, the symptoms waned during the Colts’ Week 11 bye, and Ward returned to play on the road at the Chiefs. He played in the Colts’ next two games.
During that stretch, he was self-critical of his play and told reporters Monday he still was battling some lingering symptoms, even though he’d passed the NFL’s formal concussion protocol process. Then, the full-fledged headaches erupted the Monday after the Colts’ Dec. 7 loss in Jacksonville. The Colts placed Ward on IR, ending his season.
“I’ve had a great career so far. I’m proud of the career I’ve had, and I’ve made a lot of money. I feel like I’m taken care of, and my family’s taken care of, so if I come back or don’t come back, I’m going to be living the life I’ve wanted to live and be happy,” said the 2023 Pro Bowl selection and Second Team All-Pro, who’s made more than $68.5 million over the course of his eight-year career – including $22.51 million this year.
“I think that that’s the most important thing: being happy. It’s football. It’s just a game. It goes away. I want to be a good dad to my kids and a good man to my family. I think that’s the most important thing in my life right now.”
Ward said Monday he feels like he has to make his decision soon, so as not to leave the Colts in limbo. Fellow All-Pro corner Sauce Gardner will return next year after missing much of his back-half stint with a calf injury, and the team also will get rookie Justin Walley back from a torn ACL suffered in training camp when he was in line to start.
“I’m going to talk to my agent, my fiancé, my mom. I already told you my dad said he wants me to retire, but I don’t know if I’m going to listen to him,” he said. “I’ve just got to see how I feel about everything.
“If I walk away, I feel like I’ll be happy. I won a Super Bowl. Played in (more) Super Bowls. Made hella money. Made Pro Bowls. Made All-Pro. I did everything I wanted to do, so I feel like if I walk away, I won’t regret it. Brain injuries, you don’t really see it until you get older sometimes, and I’m a pretty young guy, so the more I beat my brain up, the more it’ll affect me as I get older. I’ve got a lot of life to live outside of football, and I’ve got to think about my family and kids, too.”
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