ESPN apparently has not been keeping up with the Jimmie Ward situation this year.
During Monday’s Wild Card playoff game between the Houston Texans and the Pittsburgh Steelers, ESPN made an absolutely brutal mistake. As the Texans took the field for their first defensive possession in the first quarter at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pa., The Worldwide Leader aired a graphic showing the starters for Houston.
But there was one major problem. ESPN mistakenly aired the name and image of the Texans safety Ward as part of the graphic. Unfortunately for them, Ward has not appeared in a single game for Houston all year (Jaylen Reed was the safety who drew the start for the Texans alongside Calen Bullock instead).
Take a look at the embarrassing display.
ESPN has Jimmie Ward starting at safety for the Houston Texans tonight.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 13, 2026
He's definitely not. He hasn't even been active for a game this season (the Reserve/PUP list, plus legal issues). #NFL #NFLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/5su2FnZJSo
Ward, the former first-round draft pick, suffered a season-ending foot injury in Dec. 2024 that required surgery. As a result, he spent the entire 2025 regular season on the reserve/PUP list.
The 34-year-old Ward was also arrested in June on a troubling family violence charge after allegedly strangling his fiancée and then was arrested again in August after testing positive for alcohol in violation of his bail conditions. A subsequent lawsuit against Ward revealed even more disturbing claims about the June incident that led to his arrest (including that Ward supposedly forced his fiancée to perform oral sex on him while he was allegedly under the influence of crystal meth).
But apparently all of that was unknown to ESPN during Monday night’s playoff game. That was even worse than the mistaken graphic that they aired a few weeks ago involving LeBron James.
