Kansas City Chiefs pass rusher Dee Ford might have cost the team an opportunity to play in Super Bowl LIII after committing an egregious off-side penalty last week against the New England Patriots.
This doesn’t take away from the career-best performance Ford put up in 2018. The former first-round pick tallied 29 quarterback hits and 13 sacks en route to earning his first ever Pro Bowl trip.
In talking about his impending free agency, the 27-year-old star indicated that it’s his preference to re-sign with Kansas City.
“That’s THE option,” Ford said, via Herbie Teope of NFL Media. “I love the community and I’m just used to that environment. So, I’ll be blessed to be able to stay. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
Cap-wise, Kansas City has the opportunity to sign Ford to a lucrative long-term deal. The team is a better-than-average $36.44 million under the cap.
If the two sides are not able to come to terms on a long-term deal before March, it complicates things a bit further. This would likely force the Chiefs into placing the franchise tag on Ford — taking a $20-plus million cap hit for the 2019 campaign.
Either way, it’s highly unlikely that Ford will hit free agency. Based on his comments, he seems to be more than fine with that.