The Dee Ford experiment could lead to 49ers changing the way they evaluate injuries
San Francisco’s Dee Ford had high hopes for his 2020 season. But it couldn’t have gone any worse for the highly paid defensive end who dealt with durability issues during the Super Bowl run in 2019.
“The old saying,” 49ers general manager John Lynch said this week, “your best ability is availability and we weren’t available enough this year and that went for Dee.”
Indeed, the team’s highest-paid defensive player last season appeared in just one game in 2020 because of a back issue after playing 46 snaps in the season opener. The injury was bad enough that it’s unclear if it will heal in time for the start to next season, according to Lynch.
“I think Dee tries to stay encouraged, but I think it’s been a struggle for him and we try to stay encouraged as well. But, I can’t tell you with absolute, that yeah, he’s going to be ready (next season),” Lynch said. “We’re working hard and he is working hard to try to get there.”
Aside from a rare appearance rehabbing during practice in October, Ford was unseen since playing in Week 1, which is hardly ideal from a player with a five-year, $85 million contract after he was acquired for a second-round draft pick. Those durability concerns have put his tenure with San Francisco up in the air. The team may try to release him and create some much-needed cap space, but the 49ers’ options also could be limited by injury guarantees in his contract.
Ford, along with the team’s other key injured players, could provide the 49ers with a lesson in roster construction going into 2021. The team has taken a lot of chances on players with significant injury histories, and Ford is one of the most notable given the contract he signed when he joined the team.
Ford has two back surgeries in his history. He had a herniated disc repaired in 2011 and lumbar discectomy in 2017. He appeared in just six games that season for the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s unclear if he’ll need another procedure.
It’s not entirely surprising the 29year-old (Ford turns 30 in March) has struggled to stay on the field. Last year, knee tendinitis and a late-season hamstring injury were the culprits. The knee required offseason surgery that had Ford feeling optimistic back in training camp.
“I will definitely be a full participant all season, that’s my goal,” Ford said in August. “As far as how I feel, it feels really good right now just working into football shape.”
But not all players with injury histories have struggled to stay available. Defensive lineman Arik Armstead missed 18 games in 2016 and 2017, but has started 48 straight games since. Safety Jimmie Ward missed 30 games over his first five seasons and just five contests in the last two.
Cornerback Jason Verrett appeared in six games over the previous four years before making 13 starts this season and proving to be the team’s most consistent cornerback. Richard Sherman, who appeared in 105 straight games with the Seahawks to start his career, missed the majority of the year with calf issues likely related to his multiple Achilles surgeries from 2017 to the 2018 offseason.
“There’s a risk-reward with everything,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said this week. “Sometimes you have to take some risks, which we have done here in our four years. Some have paid off, some haven’t.”
The injury issues aren’t new to San Francisco. The 49ers had their 2018 campaign derailed in Week 3 when quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo tore his ACL while the team was among the league leaders in players on injured reserve. The team fired its head strength and conditioning coach and the longtime head athletic trainer, Jeff Ferguson. They replaced those positions by streamlining a new performance staff led by Ben Peterson, a former director of sports science with the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL.
The results have been mixed. The 49ers dealt with injuries throughout 2019 but none were as catastrophic as the minefield they navigated in 2020 when they lost defensive end Nick Bosa to a torn ACL, Garoppolo, Sherman, tight end George Kittle, running back Raheem Mostert and top receiver Deebo Samuel for extended periods. They were a mostly healthy team heading into the 2019 playoffs, which proved crucial in running through the Vikings and Packers before falling to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
Whether the recent struggles came down to injury luck plus the shortened offseason with no strength and conditioning program in the spring, the 49ers were on the other side of that spectrum in 2020.
“When you have a salary cap, when you have a roster, it’s very tough to win in this league if you’re missing a lot of your players,” Shanahan said. “For us having $81 million of our salary cap not play this year, and I think that’s the most in NFL history, that is a big deal. That’s why it doesn’t mean that you never take a risk again. I think that’d be an overcorrection. You have to take some risks to get to the top in this league, but we also understand that you cannot succeed if that number I just gave you with guys continues.”
Shanahan and Lynch have indicated they expect their luck to be better in 2021. But they said they’re going to look into the performance staff to see what could be done to ensure they don’t league the league in injured reserve usage as they did throughout 2020. Garoppolo (10), Sherman (11), Bosa (14), Kittle (eight), Mostert (eight) and Samuel (eight) combined to miss 60 of 80 possible starts. Last year, they missed just four.
“We have tremendous faith in the team that we’ve assembled as with our performance staff and our strength and conditioning staff. That remains,” Lynch said. “We are resolute in our belief in them, but we’re asking everyone to take a hard look, just as you do with the coaching staff, with the personnel staff. You self-scout and say, ‘What can we do better?’