Evaluating the Kansas City Chiefs’ decision with Dee Ford

Cons:

Figured I’d get the cons out of the way first. The most obvious negative surrounding Dee Ford is his inconsistency. For his first two years in the league, Ford was mostly relegated to spot duty behind Tamba Hali and Justin Houston. Ford did get some extra action in 2015 when Houston missed 4 games and was limited upon his return, but in his place Ford managed to only notch 1 sack.

In 2016 Houston started the season on the PUP list, and for the first 9 weeks of the season Ford was a terror. In 9 games started, Ford managed to notch 10 sacks including 2 against the top rated pass blocking team, the Oakland Raiders. However, once Houston returned and Ford was moved over to the right side of the defense. Ford finished the season with 0 sacks in his final 6 games.

As talented as Ford has looked at times in pass rushing his run defense is unimpressive at best. Ford will often miss the ball carrier from either being engaged too long or not being able to disengage from his man. Ford’s run defense ranks 86th among edge defenders by PFF.

After 3 years in the NFL and with only marginal improvements to his overall game Dee Ford may be best suited as a rotational pass rusher. Ford is just simply a liability in run defense, and can’t rush effectively from the right side. With Tamba Hali likely to retire after this season it may be time to start looking elsewhere for his eventual replacement.