Dee Ford’s season is expected to end, officially, before Thursday. He was placed on injured reserve with a back injury on November 6 after playing in the first six games of the season, and had his 21-day practice window opened November 25.
Players have 21 days to practice until a team has to either activate them or revert them to injured reserve for the remainder of the season. On Monday, Kyle Shanahan said he expected that Ford’s season would come to an end by this Thursday.
Following this, ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio reported late Tuesday night that Ford, “according to a league source,” had been telling teammates he expected to be released as soon as Wednesday.
That report came as a surprise, given that there is little cap benefit for the 49ers to release Ford at this juncture, but they could save $7 million next season by releasing him after June 1 (or about $2 million before June 1).
Via Mike Silver, Ford refuted that report, saying that he was telling his teammates goodbye because he’d be undergoing rehab work away from the team facility, not due to a pending release.
Ford signed a five-year, $85 million deal with the 49ers after being traded from the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019 for a 2020 second-round pick. He has played in just 21 of a possible 48 games in that time, and has had his contract restructured multiple times. His substantial injury guarantees have made it difficult for the 49ers to cut him.