The Dee Ford experiment is finally over in San Francisco. Three seasons after the 49ers traded a second-round pick to the Kansas City Chiefs to acquire the edge rusher, the front office has released Ford and is heading in another direction. At the time, the trade made sense, but ultimately, we’ll look back on Ford’s time with the 49ers as a disappointment – but it’s not all on him.
Ford was selected by the Chiefs with the 23rd pick in the 2014 NFL Draft but wasn’t a full-time starter until his third season with the team. And it wasn’t until then that he really started to make an impact. He had 54 total pressures and 10 sacks in 2016 and looked to build upon that in 2017, but injuries started to pile up.
He missed 10 games in 2017 before bouncing back with the best season of his career in 2018, racking up 16 sacks and 84 total quarterback pressures. Ford was memorably called for an offsides penalty in the final few minutes of the AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots, reversing a Charvarius Ward interception that could have sealed the game. Instead, the Patriots went on to win in overtime.
Despite the hiccup, Ford’s performance in 2018 left the 49ers salivating at the prospect of acquiring him. The Chiefs placed the franchise tag on Ford before trading him away in the summer of 2019, and his arrival in San Francisco was met with a brand new five-year, $85 million contract.
Ford only played in 11 games in his first year with the 49ers, but he impressed in that time, racking up 6 sacks and 33 total pressures. Alongside Nick Bosa, the Niners had one of the better pass-rushing duos in the NFL on their side..
Unfortunately a recurring back injury restricted Ford to just seven games over the next two seasons, with six of those games coming within the first seven weeks of the 2021 season. In total, he managed just 18 games in three seasons with the 49ers. Injuries just got the better of Ford. The 49ers were patient, but unfortunately, it’s business and the front office couldn’t continue to pay for Ford to sit on the sideline.
Injuries are an unfortunate reality in the NFL. The 49ers knew that Ford had missed time previously with injuries, but they also needed the pass-rushing help back in 2019. There was every reason to believe Ford could make an impact long-term. But sometimes bad luck just prevents that from happening. Even so, handing out a five-year contract at that point didn’t look particularly great.
Ford had all of the talent to form a real partnership with Bosa, but at 31 years old and a long history of back trouble, he’ll hit the open market in the hopes of joining a team and making an impression in training camp. There’s also a very real chance he takes some time to further heal leading up to the season.
Either way, Ford’s time in San Francisco is over.
-Thomas Valentine
Twitter: @tvalentinesport
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.