Player
Denzel Ward
CB · Browns
Denzel Ward: facts drawn from the play-by-play.
Eight seasons of consistent shutdown CB production — and then 2025 quietly dipped.
TrendWard regular-season defensive production by year
| Year | PDs | Tackles | FF | TFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 11 | 39 | 1 | 5 |
| 2019 | 11 | 36 | 0 | 1 |
| 2020 | 18 | 37 | 1 | 1 |
| 2021 | 10 | 33 | 0 | 1 |
| 2022 | 15 | 37 | 0 | 1 |
| 2023 | 11 | 26 | 1 | 1 |
| 2024 | 19 | 38 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 9 | 27 | 0 | 2 |
Pass defenses per season
| Season | PDs |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 11 |
| 2019 | 11 |
| 2020 | 18 |
| 2021 | 10 |
| 2022 | 15 |
| 2023 | 11 |
| 2024 | 19 |
| 2025 | 9 |
He's averaged 13 PDs per season across 8 years — only one year below 9, and two seasons above 18 (2020 and 2024). The 2025 dip (9 PDs, 27 tackles) is the lowest production stretch of his career; it tracks with a Browns defense that fell off after losing Myles Garrett snaps to injury.
104 career PDs — the most by any active CB drafted before 2020.
MilestoneCareer PDs — Ward through 2025
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Career PDs | 104 |
| Career tackles | 273 |
| Career FFs | 4 |
| Career FRs | 6 |
| Career INTs (via DB) | 22 |
104 career PDs in 8 seasons. The pick was #4 overall in 2018, when Cleveland passed on Bradley Chubb and Sam Darnold to take him — and on the PD-per-season metric (13.0) he's one of the most consistent shutdown CBs of his draft era. The 22 career INTs via the pass-defense-on-interception trail put him among the top ball-hawks of his generation.
28 PDs across 2024-25 — tied for 4th in the NFL despite the 2025 slump.
RareNFL pass-defense leaders, 2024-25 combined (DBs)
| Rank | Player | PDs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike Jackson | 35 |
| 2 | Derek Stingley Jr. | 33 |
| 3 | Quinyon Mitchell | 29 |
| T-4 | Marlon Humphrey | 28 |
| T-4 | Denzel Ward | 28 |
| T-6 | Alontae Taylor | 27 |
| T-6 | Riley Moss | 27 |
Even with the 2025 dip dragging the total down, he sits tied for 4th in the NFL in PDs over the last two seasons. The 2024 alone was a top-2-in-the-NFL year (19 PDs) — only Pat Surtain II had more among elite CBs that season.
2020 was the peak: 18 PDs, NFL leader range — and the year Cleveland made its only playoff run with him.
SplitWard 2020 vs the rest of his career
| Stretch | Games | PDs/yr |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 only | ~14 | 18 |
| All other years | ~14 | 12.3 |
His 2020 PD total (18) was 47% higher than his career baseline — and it came on the Browns team that won 11 games and beat Pittsburgh in the Wild Card. The shutdown-CB version of Ward is what unlocked that defense; nothing since has matched it for Cleveland.
4 PDs in a single game vs Philly — only career game in double-figures' worth of plays-on-the-ball.
MilestoneWard top single-game PD performances
| Season | Week | Opp | PDs | Tackles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 11 | vs PHI | 4 | 3 |
| 2024 | 1 | vs DAL | 3 | 0 |
| 2021 | 9 | vs CIN | 3 | 2 |
| 2020 | 7 | vs CIN | 3 | 5 |
| 2020 | 2 | vs CIN | 3 | 2 |
| 2018 | 5 | vs BAL | 3 | 4 |
The 2020 Week 11 vs Philadelphia (4 PDs, 3 tackles) is his career high-water game. Across 130+ career games, he has only one 4-PD outing — but he has five 3-PD games, all in either his peak year (2020) or the bounce-back AP-2 year (2024).
Quietly more productive than Jaire Alexander, Jalen Ramsey at the same career stage.
ComparisonCareer PDs — Ward vs elite peer CBs
| Player | Career PDs | Career Tackles |
|---|---|---|
| Denzel Ward (8 yrs) | 104 | 273 |
| Marlon Humphrey (9 yrs) | 105 | 389 |
| Tre'Davious White (9 yrs) | 85 | 273 |
| Jaire Alexander (8 yrs) | 70 | 233 |
He sits 2nd among 2018-class CBs in career PDs (104) — essentially tied with Marlon Humphrey (105) despite one fewer season. Alexander's 70 PDs are dramatically lower because of injury attrition. The Ward criticism has always been availability (no 17-game season), but on a per-game basis he's been one of the most productive CBs of his era.
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