Kansas City Chiefs: Ranking every first round pick in franchise history

RANKING EVERY FIRST ROUND PICK IN CHIEFS HISTORY

NUMBER 24 – DEE FORD (Amber)

There has always been controversy around whether drafting Dee Ford in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft was a good move or not. Ford has been up and down throughout his career, struggling with injuries and inconsistency. He played a disappointing first two seasons, a solid 2016 season, an even more disappointing 2017 season, and then a spectacular 2018 season.

In his first two seasons, Ford picked up only five and a half sacks and started just six games—not so hot for a first-round pick drafted with the purpose of replacing Tamba Hali. In 2016, Ford seemed as if he was piecing his game together, starting 14 games and picking up ten sacks.

However, his game fell off again in 2017, when Ford added only two sacks through six games.
2018 was a different story. Ford earned a career-high 13 sacks, league-high seven forced
fumbles, and earned himself Pro Bowl and First Team All-Pro honors.

His impressive performance pushed the Chiefs to place a franchise tag on him just before hitting free agency. Shortly after, Kansas City traded him to San Francisco for a second-round draft pick.

Another team was certainly going pay much more than the Chiefs would be able to offer for the
young pass rusher, but it seems that the Chiefs didn’t get a very good return on their
investment.

All things considered, Ford was disappointing up until he proved himself to be a strong defensive force on a Super Bowl-contending 2018 Chiefs team. He will be excellent in
San Francisco, but the Chiefs missed out on what could have been a solid career or
valuable trade asset for the squad.