Usage / Role
49%
Rotational defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2015-2017Ohio State
Denzel Ward
CB • 5'10" • 191 lbs • Macedonia, OH, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
Denzel Ward shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 29.5 disruption score.
Impact Production
79
High-end production for a corner
lowelite
Reliability
61
Reliable weekly contributor
lowhigh
Star Power
92
Blue-chip, NFL-level ceiling
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2017 Regular Season · Ohio State
15161617
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 3
- Program Path
- Ohio State
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Indiana
Player Story
Denzel Ward built his college career from 2015 through 2017 as a cornerback from Macedonia, OH wearing No. 12, spending time with Ohio State. The clearest part of Denzel Ward's career was his defensive production: 60...
Read the story4★
- Committed To
- Ohio State
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2015
NFL Draft
- Draft Year
- 2018
- Selection
- Round 1 · Pick 4
- Overall
- No. 4
- NFL Team
- Cleveland Browns
Denzel Ward, CB. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2017 Regular Season · Ohio State. Denzel Ward shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 29.5 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 60
- TFL
- 2
- Passes defended
- 24
Featured Highlight
Watch Denzel Ward on film
Denzel Ward Ohio State Highlights
2017 · Ohio State · Player Highlight
Denzel Ward college highlights at Ohio State.
- Season
- 2017
- Type
- Player highlight
Quick Answers
Denzel Ward quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Ohio State · CB
- Career Tackles
- 60
- Tracked sample
- 3 unique seasons · 4 entries · 21 games
- Best season
- 2017 Regular Season · Ohio State
- Top game
- Indiana
- Recruit profile
- 4-star · Nordonia · Ohio State
- High school pipeline
- Nordonia · 10 FBS recruits · 1 drafted player
- NFL Draft
- 2018 · Round 1 · Pick 4 · Cleveland Browns
- Latest roster
- No. 12 · Class 2017
- 2017 Tackles rank
- 37 tackles · CB 88th (top 24%) · Big Ten 113th (top 19%) · National 1,091st (top 19%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 Regular Season | Ohio State | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | - |
| 2016 Postseason | Ohio State | 10 | 1 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 35.5 |
| 2016 Regular Season | Ohio State | 10 | 22 | - | 0 | - | 9 | 0 | 35.5 |
| 2017 Regular Season | Ohio State | 11 | 37 | 2 | 0 | - | 15 | 0 | 48.3 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Denzel Ward
Denzel Ward played CB for Ohio State. Across 3 tracked seasons, Denzel Ward recorded 60 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2017 with Ohio State.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2017 Regular Season
Ohio State paired 18 primary output with 29.5 efficiency.
Supporting note
2017 Regular Season role shape
impact-led usage with 29.5 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value is trending up
2017 Regular Season improved on the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Indiana
Win with 6 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet. It landed in the 100th percentile of the selected season.
Analysis workspace
Season Workbench
Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.
Season Explorer
Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.
2017 Regular Season · Ohio State
Games
11
Havoc Plays / G
1.6
Efficiency
29.5
Usage
3.4
Consistency
35.5
Best Game by takeover score
Indiana
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
Active game
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Game-by-Game Trend
Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.
Chronological game order.
Game by game trend chart. Indiana: 6. Oklahoma: 0. Army: 0. UNLV: 3. Rutgers: 3. Nebraska: 0. Penn State: 0. Iowa: 1. Michigan State: 1. Michigan: 2. Wisconsin: 2
Volume vs Efficiency
Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.
Low volumeHigh quality
High volumeHigh quality
Low volumeLower quality
High volumeLower quality
Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.
Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. Indiana: 4 by 66.7. Oklahoma: 2 by 8.3. Army: 5 by 20.8. UNLV: 3 by 42.5. Rutgers: 1 by 34.2. Nebraska: 5 by 20.8. Penn State: 2 by 8.3. Iowa: 1 by 14.2. Michigan State: 3 by 22.5. Michigan: 8 by 53.3. Wisconsin: 3 by 32.5
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins1.9 · Games = 9 · +1.4 vs Losses
Losses0.5 · Games = 2 · -1.4 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
11 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
Indiana
Best efficiency game
66.7 vs Indiana
| Result | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun 12/3 | @ WisconsinSplash game | W 27-21 | 3 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | — | — |
| Sat 11/25 | @ MichiganSplash game | W 31-20 | 8 | 7 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | — | — |
| Sat 11/11 | vs Michigan State | W 48-3 | 3 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 11/4 | @ Iowa | L 24-55 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 10/28 | vs Penn State | W 39-38 | 2 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/14 | @ Nebraska | W 56-14 | 5 | 4 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/30 | @ RutgersSplash game | W 56-0 | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 2 | — | — |
| Sat 9/23 | vs UNLVSplash game | W 54-21 | 3 | 2 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 2 | — | — |
| Sat 9/16 | vs Army | W 38-7 | 5 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/9 | vs Oklahoma | L 16-31 | 2 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Fri 9/1 | @ IndianaSplash game | W 49-21 | 4 | 4 | — | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | — | — |
Player Story
Denzel Ward story
Denzel Ward built his college career from 2015 through 2017 as a cornerback from Macedonia, OH wearing No. 12, spending time with Ohio State. The clearest part of Denzel Ward's career was his defensive production: 60 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 interception, and 24 passes defended across 21 career games in the available record. His largest box-score season came in 2017 with Ohio State. Those numbers show where he fit, how often the ball or action found him, and how his role developed over time.
Defensive careers can be hard to read from one number, but Denzel Ward's production has multiple signals. His career also includes 10 return yards, giving the story more than a single-category snapshot. With 21 career games in the available record, his career has enough shape to show both opportunity and production across Ohio State.
The arc is straightforward: Denzel Ward moved through the depth chart, found a larger role, and turned that opportunity into production that can be understood through standard football numbers.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
Ohio State
2015-2017
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
2015201620162017
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 Regular Season | Ohio State | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2016 Postseason | Ohio State | 9 | 18.6 | 1.7 | 9 |
| 2016 Regular Season | Ohio State | 9 | 18.6 | 1.7 | 0 |
| 2017 Regular Season | Ohio State | 18 | 29.5 | 3.4 | 9 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
@ Indiana
Week 1 · W 49-21 · Conference game
Win with 6 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
6
Havoc Plays
71.4 takeover
6 disruption/tackle impact with 71.4 takeover score.
#2
vs Nebraska
Week 10 · W 62-3 · Conference game
3
Havoc Plays
55 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 55 takeover score.
#3
@ Michigan
Week 13 · W 31-20 · Conference game
2
Havoc Plays
46.9 takeover
Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 46.9 takeover score.
#4
vs UNLV
Week 4 · W 54-21
3
Havoc Plays
44.2 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 44.2 takeover score.
#5
@ Rutgers
Week 5 · W 56-0 · Conference game
3
Havoc Plays
41.7 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 41.7 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2017 Regular Season · Ohio State
18 primary output · 29.5 efficiency · 3.4 usage
48.3
#2
2016 Postseason · Ohio State
35.5
9 primary · 18.6 efficiency · 1.7 usage
#3
2016 Regular Season · Ohio State
35.5
9 primary · 18.6 efficiency · 1.7 usage
Milestones
1
Impact games
6
Splash games
0
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Denzel Ward
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