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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — After three injury-plagued seasons, defensive finish Dee Ford‘s time with the San Francisco 49ers is formally over.
The Niners launched Ford on Wednesday in a transfer that had been anticipated since Ford’s 2021 season resulted in December with him on injured reserve due to persistent again issues.
San Francisco common supervisor John Lynch stated Tuesday {that a} transfer could be forthcoming with Ford after indicating on the NFL homeowners conferences in March that Ford had performed his last snaps with the staff.
“I do not see a variety of hope in him being an element for us on the sector shifting ahead,” Lynch stated then. “We have tried to be as affected person as doable, and no fault of Dee, he simply bumped into a nasty state of affairs together with his again the place he could not get wholesome. He’s rehabbing, however I do not see him being part of us.”
As a result of Ford has been coping with an ongoing again situation, the Niners had been affected person earlier than releasing him in order to unfold out the salary-cap costs that stay on his contract. Since Wednesday’s transfer comes after June 1, the Niners will unfold out the majority of the greater than $11.5 million left on his deal over the following two years. The transfer saves $1.12 million in opposition to the 2022 wage cap.
For the Niners, Ford’s launch is a disappointing conclusion to a once-promising union between participant and staff. The Niners initially acquired Ford in a 2019 commerce with the Kansas City Chiefs in trade for a second-round draft choose. The 49ers promptly signed Ford to a five-year, $85 million take care of visions of Ford and fellow finish Nick Bosa wreaking havoc on quarterbacks for years to come back.
There have been glimpses of that in 2019 when Ford had 6.5 sacks in 11 video games and San Francisco surged to an look in Tremendous Bowl LIV. However Ford struggled with a number of accidents that season and the again issues that plagued him way back to his time at Auburn by no means went away.
All informed, Ford appeared in simply 18 regular-season video games with 9.5 sacks in three seasons in San Francisco. He performed in six video games in 2022 with three sacks earlier than touchdown on injured reserve.
The 49ers used their first choose within the 2022 NFL draft — No. 61 total — on defensive finish Drake Jackson with an eye fixed towards Jackson changing into Ford’s long-term alternative.
“[Jackson] simply jumps off the movie by way of his … expertise and size and his capacity to show the nook and redirect, all of the issues we search for and covet in a defensive finish,” Lynch stated in April. “We expect his greatest stuff is in entrance of him.”
Ford, 31, was chosen to the Professional Bowl after the 2018 season whereas with the Chiefs. He has 40 sacks, 12 pressured fumbles and 159 tackles in eight NFL seasons.
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