Despite sitting most of the year with a back injury as well as a high price tag, the Chiefs are heading into 2018 with expectations for Dee Ford.
Dee Ford isn’t exactly set up to resemble a defensive pillar heading into the 2018 season, but reports out today, including answers direct from general manager Brett Veach, make it clear that the Kansas City Chiefs are looking at him that way.
Coming off of a largely missed season due to an ongoing back injury, Ford seems more like a question mark than a certainty. Last year was a nightmare for Ford in terms of availability, and some analysts wondered if Ford would even be around for the next year. Ford has had issues with consistency for his entire NFL career and coupled with health concerns, it looked as if the Chiefs might want to bail on the former first round pick.
Said on @nflnetwork: #Chiefs OLB Dee Ford is still recovering (back). His $8.718 million salary becomes fully guaranteed March 14. He will be on the team. And they will use him. Had 10 sacks in 2016.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 1, 2018
After listening to Veach answer questions on Thursday from the NFL Combine, however, it sounds as if the opposite is true. For those looking at the optimistic side of things, Ford did lead the team in sacks in 2016 with 10 and he is still playing out his rookie deal. The Auburn product came into the league as a known project since he had limited playing experience at the collegiate level, and Ford did improve his sack totals year over year until 2017.
Given the dearth of edge rushers in this year’s draft and on the open market, it’s not a surprise that teams hold on to any level of promise they can find. The Chiefs have already made the investment and have even freed up cap space elsewhere, so keeping Ford makes sense if they really believe he can recover from this back injury.
If Ford can become a consistent pass rushing threat, he could team with Justin Houston and an emerging Tanoh Kpassagnon as a nice trio. However, for now, everyone but Houston is a question mark and the Chiefs could use a bit more certainty at such an important position.