The rapid and improbable rise of Dee Ford, ‘one of the best rushers in the league’

A lot of us would prefer to forget the Chiefs’ 19-14 win over the Jaguars, including many people who work for the Chiefs, so instead of an ugly game let us remember this gorgeous day as perhaps the first time in human history the following sentence was spoken:

“Dee Ford is one of the best rushers in the league.”

Those words are from Derrick Johnson, now in his 12th NFL season, and widely admired for his football mind. It would be fun to go all the way back to, say, two months ago and see how many people could read those words without questioning the speaker’s sanity.

And how many people would believe that those words are now dead-tail accurate.

Dee Ford, one of the NFL’s best pass rushers. What a time to be alive.

Ford had two more sacks on Sunday, bringing his total to nine at the season’s halfway mark. When the game was over, nobody in the league had more. If he finds seven sacks over the next eight games he will have more in a season than any Chiefs player except Justin Houston and Derrick Thomas.

What began as the season a lot of us — me, probably you, and at least some members of the Chiefs — thought might expose Ford as a one-dimensional speed rusher who didn’t put in enough extra work his first two seasons is instead appearing to be his jet ride toward respect, the Pro Bowl, and at some point a very big contract.

The Chiefs won ugly on Sunday. They gave up 218 more yards than they gained, were particularly gashed up front on both offense and defense, and were incredibly feeble converting third downs. They lost composure at times, and only won because they took four turnovers and lost none. The Jaguars are a bumbling mess of a franchise, and one of only four or so in the league the shorthanded Chiefs could’ve beaten on Sunday.

But the most important word of that paragraph is the third word, won, and for the first time since drafting Ford in the first round 2  1/2 years ago the Chiefs can now count on him to help them win games — ugly or otherwise.

Ford’s best attributes have always been his speed, burst, relentlessness, and stubborn optimism. All have served him well, not just during the first half of this season, but over the previous two years. This season, he’s added functional strength, better preparation, more ways to beat blocks, and much better hand work.

“Active hands,” he said. “You’re not going to win every time, but active hands will get you to the quarterback.”

Ford was fortunate to be drafted by the Chiefs. Their style of defense, along with the credibility and willingness of Johnson, Houston, and Tamba Hali to help him meant this was always the best place for him to succeed. That doesn’t always happen in professional sports, but give Ford credit for taking advantage of it.

Maybe his progress should’ve come sooner, but he’s never had the opportunity he has this season. His improvement has been dramatic, and one of the Chiefs’ most important developments of the first eight games.

He’s gone from being overwhelmed, to the occasional flash, to a steady and weekly improvement this year — from pressuring the quarterback but whiffing on a lot of his position’s subtle requirements like edge-setting, to being a consistent force who affects the offense on most snaps.

The Season Of Dee is about to evolve once more, because Houston is thought to be near to returning. Maybe next weekend against the Panthers, but perhaps more likely in two weeks against the Bucs.

Whenever it happens, and assuming Houston is at or near full strength, the Chiefs should have their best two-man pass rush since Houston and Hali each had 11 sacks in 2013.

At that point, the team’s greatest weakness at the start of the season — the pass rush — could be among its greatest strengths.

“I think about it every day,” Ford said. “You know? It’s going to be great.”

Among the impressive parts of Ford’s breakout season is that he’s done it, mostly, on his own. Hali is still a presence, but he is playing through more knee pain with fewer snaps. He also ranks second on the team in sacks — with 1  1/2 .

Ford has nine sacks. All of his teammates, together, have seven. Maybe he surprised some teams early, but this is now 7  1/2 sacks in the last four weeks. The sacks have come against suspect lines, or backup linemen, or both, but at this point that’s nit-picking and not just because all pass rushers tend to be most productive against bad lines.

He is, at the moment, the only pass rusher opposing offenses have to worry about and he’s still killing them. He’s killing them consistently, too, usually by beating the tackle to the moment of contact, controlling a bigger man’s hands and balance, and using his speed to chase down the quarterback.

Whenever Houston returns — again, assuming full strength — Ford becomes the second-best pass rusher, which means fewer double teams, fewer tight ends chipping him on their way out, and fewer backs on his side helping to block. Teams can always scheme him out of sacks by throwing quickly, but at that point the pass rush is doing its job and giving the defensive backs more opportunities.

It is, in other words, a somewhat astounding new reality. Ford began this season as a bust-in-waiting, and now is, legitimately, one of the league’s best pass rushers over the first half of the season.

The only bit of criticism we offer in this column: he’s gotten away from his pound-the-chest-then-flash-the-five-five celebration, instead opting for some sort of ride-the-bull dance last week in Indianapolis.

More five-five, Dee.

“If the people want that, I’ll do it,” he said. “I want to dance, though. It just depends on how I’m feeling. But I’ve been hearing a lot that everybody likes that. So I’ll stick to it. I’m a people pleaser, of course.”

This season more than ever.

This story was originally published November 6, 2016 at 6:30 PM with the headline "The rapid and improbable rise of Dee Ford, ‘one of the best rushers in the league’."