KC Chiefs: Ranking every first-round pick since 2000
By Matt Conner
11. Dee Ford
Other than Marcus Peters, Dee Ford is likely the most polarizing player on this entire list. For some, there’s absolutely nothing to appreciate about a player who was injured so often and cost the team so much. For others, there’s an ability to see that, when healthy, he was (and is) one of the NFL’s most effective pass rushers with perhaps the league’s best burst on the edge.
When the Chiefs took Dee Ford as their first round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, they knew the Auburn product was going to be a work-in-progress. It can often take pass rushers time to adjust to the pro level unless they already have several moves in their repertoire and Ford was no exception. But as the great Terez Paylor always noted, “the contract year is undefeated” and it wasn’t until that very year that Ford decided to put any development issues and health concerns behind him.
To be fair, when Ford turned it on in 2018, he really turned it on. For the first time, Ford started all 16 games in a season and he led the NFL with 7 forced fumbles and set a career high with 13 sacks and 27 quarterback hits. His burst off the edge was something to see, and his ability to disrupt the passer was a major reason why the team’s defense did anything at all—despite playing poorly overall as a unit in Bob Sutton’s final season.
During that Pro Bowl season, Ford showcased enough production that the Chiefs used their franchise tag on him, only to trade him for a future second round pick to the San Francisco 49ers. He’s been their problem ever since as his injury concerns have followed him to the Bay Area.
We’ve yet to bring up the famous offsides penalty that cost the Chiefs a potential Super Bowl appearance in the AFC Championship game at the end of his final season in K.C. but there are many other things that went wrong in that same game, and Ford was largely a net positive that year to such a degree that it feels unfair to make that a major issue here. That said, some fans have never gotten over it and are likely even now throwing a chair or something in response to this post.