SF 49ers: 3 players whose careers with Niners are doomed

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Dee Ford #55 of the San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) /

No. 3: SF 49ers EDGE Dee Ford

It hurts me to say this, but EDGE Dee Ford has been an absolute disappointment for the SF 49ers since being acquired via trade in 2019 from the Kansas City Chiefs. His production when on the field is nothing but stellar, but there lies the problem: He’s never actually available to play.

It doesn’t matter how good a player is if he’s not able to stay healthy, and that’s been exactly the case with Ford. There’s no doubt Ford strikes fear into opposing offensive linemen when he’s on the field, and his 6.5 sacks in only 11 games last season (in which he played on average less than 40 percent of snaps) is proof of that.

But here lies the real issue: Ford is just way too expensive to justify missing this much time. The last time he was on the field was Week 1 this season, and has encountered nothing but physical setbacks since.

There’s a good chance Ford doesn’t even see the field for the rest of the year.

Ford is entering his age-30 season next year and is scheduled to make over $15 million on average per year until 2023. You can’t convince me that, as Ford gets older, his injury issues will go away. That contract makes it virtually impossible to justify keeping him around any longer.

Look for the Niners to do their best and try to move on from him via trade before next season. If they aren’t successful, they’ll have no choice but to keep him around for one more year due to his massive $14 million dollar dead-cap hit.