Longtime Eagles guard Greg Ward has finally found a new home appeared first on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Greg Ward, who has been with the Eagles for the past six years and was the team’s leading receiver in 2020, has finally found a new team.
Ward was on the Eagles’ practice squad last year and became a free agent after the season. He was unemployed during the offseason and signed with the Colts on Wednesday.
Ward has many connections in Indianapolis.
Head coach Shane Steichen served as Ward’s offensive coordinator with the Eagles in 2021 and 2022, offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter served as an offensive consultant for the Eagles in 2022 and passing game coordinator Alex Tunney played various roles on Nick Sirianni’s staff from 2021 to 2023. The Colts receivers coach is Reggie Wayne, who had eight 1,000-yard seasons with the Colts.
Ward has never played for an NFL team other than the Eagles.
He signed as an undrafted free agent before the 2017 season and transitioned from quarterback to wide receiver in college while spending his rookie year on the practice squad.
After a brief stint with the Alliance of American Football, Ward returned to the Eagles in 2019. With injuries plaguing the Eagles’ wide receiver corps, Ward started three of the final seven games of the season and caught 28 passes for 254 yards and one touchdown. His 28 catches through the final seven weeks of a season are the fifth-most in franchise history by a player through the first seven games of the season.
Ward caught a team-high 53 passes for 419 yards and six touchdowns in a full season in 2020. His six touchdown catches were second-most in the NFL by an undrafted player in 2020, behind Adam Thielen’s 14.
Ward caught seven passes for 95 yards and three touchdowns in 2021 before being on and off the roster and practice squad in 2022 and 2023. He hasn’t played in a game since the 2021 wild-card loss to the Buccaneers. His last pass caught was a 2-yard pass from Gardner Minshew at the end of a 51-26 loss to the Cowboys on the final day of the 2021 regular season.
Ward’s 88 catches are the seventh-most by an undrafted player in Eagles history, his 53 catches in 2020 are the third-most in a single season by an undrafted player, and his six touchdowns are the most by an undrafted player since James Thrash had eight in 2001.
His career catch percentage of 67.7% (88 catches on 130 targets) is the second-best by an Eagles receiver since targets began being tracked in 1992, behind DeVonta Smith at 68.2%.
Ward is the only player in NFL history to have been on two Super Bowl teams’ practice squads at least five years apart, and he won a championship ring as a rookie in 2017.
Speaking at Super Bowl media day in St. Paul, Minnesota, following the 2022 season, Ward said he wasn’t frustrated about not being a regular player after 2020 and had a positive outlook for the future.
“Honestly, I’ve been completely blessed,” Ward said. “I can’t complain about anything. I’m not worried about whether I’ll be able to play right now. I know God has a plan for me and I know what the future holds.”
“The way I work isn’t going to change, the way I prepare isn’t going to change, the way I continue to improve isn’t going to change. I just have to stay focused on it.”
“There aren’t many guys who’ve never been to a Super Bowl in their career, so to be able to go to two? I can’t complain at all.”
Ward joined former Eagles teammates Jenard Avery, Joe Flacco, Trey Sermon and Josh Sills on the Colts’ training camp roster.
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