Kansas City Chiefs: What To Do With Dee Ford
The Kansas City Chiefs re-signed outside linebacker and fan favorite Tamba Hali on Tuesday to a three-year deal. What is the team going to do with Dee Ford now that Hali is here to stay?
Two years ago, the Kansas City Chiefs desperately needed a wide receiver. The 2014 NFL Draft class was stacked with great receivers and was thought to be one of the best receiver classes ever.
Instead of grabbing one of these talented receivers in the first round, the KC Chiefs spent their 23rd overall pick on Dee Ford.
“Who’s that?” Everyone in Kansas City asked whoever they were watching the draft with.
Ford was a linebacker out of Auburn, but despite his early projections, was more of an unknown. The Chiefs already had Tamba Hali and Justin Houston as their two set outside linebackers, but both guys were nearing free agency in the coming years.
With Ford being selected in the first round, it appeared evident that the Chiefs were looking to replace one of those two guys. Houston was in his prime, so Hali seemed like the obvious choice to replace.
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In Ford’s rookie year, he didn’t start a single game. He played in all 16, but only totaled three tackles, one and a half sacks, and defended one pass.
Embarrassingly, Ford was most known after his rookie year for running away from Frank Gore when the Chiefs played against San Francisco. It was not something good to be known for, and fans were quickly throwing the bust label on Ford.
Enter year two, and Ford stepped his game up a little bit. He started in five games due to an injury to Justin Houston, but still wasn’t anything spectacular.
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Ford had three sacks on Philip Rivers when the Chargers came to Kansas City, but San Diego’s offensive line was not good AND Ford got those sacks against a third-string offensive lineman. He had one other sack in 13 other games.
The point that I’m trying to make here is that Ford was drafted to be the future star outside linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs. He was supposed to take Tamba Hali’s place and continue on the tradition of having a stacked defense.
Now, however, Tamba Hali has re-signed with the Chiefs twice, and it really poses the question of what the Chiefs are planning on doing with Dee Ford. If they felt confident in him starting next season, they wouldn’t have re-signed Hali to a three-year deal.
What are the Chiefs going to do with Dee Ford? Is he going to remain as a back-up or could he still become a full-time starter for the team?