Kansas City Chiefs: Dee Ford Continues To Perform In Contract Year

The Kansas City Chiefs won a shootout in Pittsburgh on Sunday. Outside linebacker Dee Ford was one of a few bright spots on defense.

The Kansas City Chiefs drafted outside linebacker Dee Ford in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft to one day replace the aging Tamba Hali. Ford, a defensive end out of Auburn, was undersized and moved to the outside linebacker position. His speed off of the ball and quick steps made him a nightmare for tackles in college.

Around the time when Ford started contributing on defense, Justin Houston suffered an injury forcing Kansas City to keep Hali around on a lucrative contract. There was also the fact that Ford was slow to show any development at the NFL level. He’s also had injuries of his own.

Before the 2018 season, Ford had spent four seasons with the Chiefs showing very little development. He was still a liability in the run game and hadn’t developed any new pass rushing moves. Always resulting to his bull rush, Ford found himself outpowered most of the time.

Then there are the injuries. When Justin Houston finally returned late in the 2016 season, one game later Dee Ford was out with a hamstring injury. Coming into 2017 we thought that we would have both rushers healthy. After a few games, Ford was sidelined and had to have his second back surgery this offseason. Kansas City was forced to keep Ford’s fifth-year option contract since he was unable to pass a physical this offseason.

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The Chiefs are not blind to Ford’s struggles either. They spent their last two second-round picks on defensive ends that they converted to outside linebacker. Tanoh Kpassagnon is an athletic freak that is showing some significant development in year two. Breeland Speaks, this year’s second-round pick, we’ve yet to see what he will turn into without some more time for development.

While Ford has his money for this season, he’s a free agent at the end of the 2018 season. It would seem that he feels the pressure of not only the contract but the players being brought in because he’s looked great the first two weeks of the season. I can honestly say that both games have been probably his best games in red and yellow.

To start off the regular season, Kansas City traveled to take on their divisional opponent, the Los Angeles Chargers. Dee Ford wrecked havoc on the backfield. When I went back and charted his snaps against the Chargers, I charted him with one sack, three quarterback hits, and four pressures on the day. He let Philip Rivers know he was there.

In Week 2 when Kansas City traveled to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers, he was just as explosive. While he didn’t come up with a sack on Ben Roethlisberger, he was close on multiple occasions. I’ve gone back and charted his snaps once again to see just how well he did against Pittsburgh. I charted Ford with four hurries and five pressures on the day.

Kansas City only came away with one sack again in Week 2, but that wasn’t due to a lack of effort. I counted 19 hurries and 22 pressures for the pass rush on Sunday. I might even go back and chart how many holds I saw against each player at some point. Watching the defensive line specifically, Pittsburgh was getting away with an alarming amount of holds.

Chris Jones and Justin Houston both were seen throwing their hands up and hollering at the refs in the later part of the game. I saw those two especially getting held on a consistent basis. It’s eye-opening when Kansas City was all over Roethlisberger in the first quarter, but the pressure fell off in the second and third quarters.

Regardless, Ford is off to a hot start this season, and if he continues to play with this kind of production, the sacks for Kansas City will begin to stack up. However, if Ford has a monster season in a contract year, the Chiefs should let him walk and take the complimentary draft pick that comes with it. We’ve seen what happens when Kansas City waits till a breakout contract season to sign an edge rusher.

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Nothing against Justin Houston, but the Chiefs can’t afford to pay that kind of money for Dee Ford next season. With Houston and Eric Berry‘s contracts already on the book, the team won’t be able to sign him, or at least shouldn’t. Not with his injury history already. Kpassagnon has looked good in his limited snaps this season, and even almost got a sack on Roethlisberger if he hadn’t found a way to barely get rid of the ball.

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