Kansas City Chiefs: Who won first week of free agency?

Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid, left, and General Manager Brett Veach, right, introduce safety Tyrann Mathieu in the Stram Theater in Kansas City, Mo., on Thursday, March 14, 2019. The Chiefs signed Mathieu to a three-year deal reportedly worth $42 million. (Tammy Ljungblad/Kansas City Star/TNS via Getty Images) /

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Quarterback Philip Rivers #17 of the Los Angeles Chargers is hit by outside linebacker Dee Ford #55 of the Kansas City Chiefs (Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images) /

For Dee Ford, the change of scenery from Kansas City to San Francisco also came with something else: a beautiful new five-year, $87.5 million extension.

This comes on the heels of Ford’s breakout season, in which he collected 13 sacks to along with 29 QB hits. The trade netted the Chiefs a future second-round draft pick while freeing up about $15 million in cap space.

The trade also enables Ford to depart a franchise that he feels wasn’t sold on him. The 49ers, desperate to turn in a winning season for the first time since Jim Harbaugh left for Michigan, immediately put their belief in him on the table in the form of that mega-extension.

While the contract doesn’t make Ford the highest-paid defensive player in the league, it does put him in the top ten. And while his guaranteed portion doesn’t top that of Trey Flowers, who signed last week with the Lions, Ford did earn nearly $20 million guaranteed at signing.

All told, this trade landed Ford with a franchise that values him and his new deal placed him alongside the league’s premiere sack artists. Now all he has to do is play up to it.

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