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As soon as it was reported the 49ers had signed Samson Ebukam to a two-year deal worth $12 million, and up to $13.5 million, it was immediately clear the 49ers had something up their sleeve, and that something had to be Dee Ford.
Ford’s contract, which was set to cost for $20 million on the cap in 2021, looks like an albatross. He had a sizable injury guarantee, with $11.6 million of his salary set to become guaranteed on April 1. A move to cut him probably wouldn’t be viable, because he wouldn’t be healthy enough to pass a physical, and the 49ers can’t afford to lose cap space.
So, the 49ers completely reworked his contract, as Ian Rapoport reported, to a two-year, $24 million deal. Regardless of how the money pans out, the savings from that reworked contract will almost certainly be enough to cover the cost of Ebukam’s deal, and provide additional cap space on top of it.
The #49ers and LB Dee Ford have agreed to terms on a restructured 2-year deal worth $24M, per me and @TomPelissero. A practical, win-win solution to an ongoing issue in SF.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 15, 2021
Ford missed all but one game of the 2020 season with a serious back injury. He had back surgery when he was with Kansas City, with doctors telling him they were concerned whether he would walk again.
From the 49ers’ perspective, as Ford worked tirelessly to recover to less than promising results, there was, and still is, a clear worry over his ability to play again. This may be a case where San Francisco views him as a luxury and gives him as much time as humanly possible to recover; expect he doesn’t return, and be pleasantly surprised if he does, potentially around playoff time.
Here’s a reminder of what happened with Ford’s back in Kansas City, and how the 49ers noticed it, from an early-season notebook:
Now, after sitting last week due to neck spasms, Ford is dealing with a back issue which has him out “indefinitely.” The team has no timeline for his injury. Back injuries are one of the more concerning for NFL players and Ford is no stranger to them. When he was in college, he had to have a herniated disc repaired surgically.
But in 2017, Ford felt pain in his back relating to that herniated disc, and his “entire right leg often was numb,” according to Dan Pompei of Bleacher Report. He landed on his back against the Denver Broncos in Week 8, ending his season.
Ford went back to Dr. Andrew Cordover, the doctor who performed the surgery on his herniated disc, and expressed concerns if Ford would ever walk again.
“The conversation was about being able to walk,” Ford told Pompei. “He was terrified of me playing again. He told me if I still wanted to play, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to do surgery.”
Ultimately, Cordover performed a lumbar discectomy, which removes the herniated disc material pressing on the nerve root or spinal cord. Ford, who is listed at 243 pounds now, dropped to 215 pounds.
Suffice it to say, there is a likelihood that Ford’s injury is related to these injuries. He has no return timeline as the team waits to see how his body reacts, but he’s almost certainly out this week.
“I’m concerned,” Shanahan said. “When you’re dealing with the back injury, you really don’t know the timetable. I know he’s gotten some medicine this week that we’re hoping helps, but that’s a wait-and-see approach so each day you’re looking into him, see how it goes. I’m sure it’s a long shot this week but there is no timetable on it because we got to see how the medicine reacts and if it helps.”
Will Ford return? At this point, no one who can give you certainty on that front. But the 49ers just gave themselves a substantial amount of cap flexibility which allowed them to sign an edge rusher, keeps them comfortably in the driver’s seat with Trent Williams, and keeps them as players in the center market, which at this point, is their most glaring need outside of tackle.