The San Francisco 49ers are allowing fewer yards per game than any other team in the NFL, and Dee Ford’s blistering speed off the edge is the X-Factor to their success.
Last season, the San Francisco 49ers fielded one of the NFL’s most frustrating defenses. Despite ranking in the middle of the pack in yards per game allowed and net yards per pass attempt allowed, the Niners were in the bottom five with 27.2 points per game allowed.
One year later, the 49ers might have the NFL’s best defense. Only the New England Patriots are allowing fewer points per game and fewer net yards per pass attempt, with the Niners leading the way in yards allowed.
While the 49ers’ dominant defense under future NFL head coach Robert Saleh has been a collective effort, there is one proven, game-changing pass rusher who has served as a catalyst for the unit’s marked improvement in 2019. And the Niners only needed to spend a second-round pick to acquire this sack artist.
Enter Dee Ford.
At one point, he appears a bust. Four years into his tenure with the Kansas City Chiefs, Ford was oft-injured and best known for running away from a play against the 49ers during his rookie season. Then 2018 happened. Ford earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl with 13 sacks. All that was forgotten, though, with a neutral-zone infraction that cost the Chiefs their first Super Bowl appearance in 49 years. Just like that, gone.
But now, there is only one word to describe Ford that he’ll actually care about: undefeated.
He’s now a star on a defense that has lifted the 49ers to an 8-0 record, making them the last undefeated team standing at the 2019 season’s midway point. Who saw that coming after the 49ers took a gamble on the former first-round pick?
Ford shares the spotlight with Defensive Rookie of the Year favorite Nick Bosa and the defensive end duo of DeForest Buckner and Arik Armstead, but his 5.5 sacks and two fumbles forced are examples of the playmaking ability he brings to this star-studded 49ers defense.
There are only a handful of edge rushers who are as devastatingly quick off the edge. Ford hasn’t played more than 50% of the team’s defensive snaps in a single game since Week 1, because he’s dealing with a chronic knee injury that may require surgery after the 2019 season. But with the way he’s getting after the quarterback, nobody would guess Ford is playing through pain.
While the injury has been enough to force Ford into playing on a pitch count, it hasn’t stopped him from being wildly effective. Thanks to Ford’s ability to blossom as a situational pass-rusher, the 49ers lead the league in pressure percentage despite blitzing on the third-lowest percentage of their defensive snaps.
The best NFL teams have an area of the roster where they flat-out dominate the opposition. And in 2019, there may not be a single more dominant unit than the 49ers pass rush. Ford may not be a regular starter, but he’s far more than a luxury player. He’s the deadly weapon who comes on the field when the 49ers need him the most.
Above all else, he is the one who finishes plays. Bosa leads the 49ers with seven sacks, but when accounting for the number of snaps both players received, the comparison begins to favor Ford. While Bosa averages a sack per every 44 snaps, Ford is taking down the quarterback on every 32 snaps. That efficiency is likely buoyed by the “pitch count” that keeps Ford fresh, but his ability to be this astoundingly lethal despite a knee injury is remarkable.
Ford could have been the playmaking sub-package edge rusher who helped lift the Chiefs defense from “decent” to “great” in 2019, easing the load on the team’s secondary. Instead, he’s fulfilling that role for an even more talented 49ers defense that has been willing to integrate his skillset into the scheme, rather than tossing him aside for less than market value as the Chiefs did this past offseason.
It’s safe to say the 49ers are more than happy with the return on their second-round investment.
All statistics are courtesy of Pro-Football Reference.