The Kansas City Chiefs are placing their franchise tag on edge rusher Dee Ford, according to Adam Schefter.
Chiefs are placing their franchise tag on LB Dee Ford today and plan to play with him this season, but with the change to a 4-3 defensive scheme, they will listen to trade offers for their franchised player, per league sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 2, 2019
Chiefs Place Franchise Tag on Dee Ford
The fifth-year outside linebacker out of Auburn played his first five seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs. After being primarily used as a nickel-package pass rusher for his first two seasons, Ford became a solid starter on Kansas City’s defense the last three years. 2018 was Ford’s best season, as the edge rusher recorded 13 sacks, 55 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and a league-leading seven forced fumbles. He also added four tackles, a forced fumble, and a sack in the postseason. For the first time in his five-year career, Ford was voted into the Pro Bowl and started in all 16 games.
In 2017, Ford struggled to stay healthy due to lingering back issues and only played in six games before being placed on the injured reserve. He finished the season with 13 tackles, two sacks and four tackles for loss. Ford became a starter in the 2016 season and made a huge impact for the Chiefs defense. He went on to record 38 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, two pass deflections and one forced fumble.
In 2015, Ford recorded 23 tackles, 6 tackles for loss, four sacks and two pass deflections in 14 games. The outside linebacker had started four games that season and proved to the Chiefs coaching staff that he could be a starter at the NFL level. As a rookie, Ford played in all 16 games as a sub-package pass rusher but only recorded seven tackles, 1.5 sacks and one tackle for loss.
Coming out of Auburn, Ford was a highly scouted prospect due to the numbers he produced his senior year. His lack of size, however, concerned a lot of NFL draft analysts and general managers across the league. At 6’2″ and 250 pounds, many did not believe he had the size to play as an edge rusher in the NFL, yet the Chiefs took a chance on him by selecting him with the 23rd overall pick in the first round of the 2014 draft.
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