The San Francisco 49ers believe the presence of Dee Ford will be a significant boost to the team's pass rush, which has struggled in recent years. He has yet to make his 49ers debut. The edge rusher left practice on July 30 with a quad issue and has not practiced since then. It's not that specific injury that has sidelined him, though.
Ford told Cam Inman of Bay Area News Group that he routinely battles knee tendinitis. The 49ers wanted to address that before the start of the season, so the defender received platelet-rich plasma injections in his knee.
San Francisco is in no rush to get Ford back onto the practice field and is more concerned with having him ready to play Week 1 of the regular season.
The initial plan was to have Ford return to practice this week. However, the 49ers played in a road game on Monday night and take part in another on Saturday. Ford may not practice this week given the short preparation time before the team travels to Kansas City.
"Dee Ford, just like the other guys that haven't been able to go, there's no rush for this, especially on a short week, the Monday night game on the road and then going again on the road Saturday," defensive coordinator Robert Saleh told reporters before Wednesday's practice. "For Dee, it's just again going and checking in with the performance staff, see where he's at. If he's able to, great. If not, there's no pressing need. Again, it's up to the performance staff and how that goes."
Ford was not on the practice field on Wednesday. The 49ers will hold one more practice, a Thursday afternoon session, before traveling to Kansas City to face Ford's former team.
The 49ers haven't closed the door yet on Ford practicing on Thursday. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said they'll discuss the possibility that morning.
"With this short week happening, I know [practicing this week] was the goal for it," Shanahan said on Tuesday, "or we thought there was a possibility. I still think there is, but I think we are going to be leaning a little bit more towards next week."
The coaches, including Saleh, aren't too concerned if Ford doesn't practice this week and misses the entire preseason.
"Dee Ford's position here is less mentally taxing than what it was with the Chiefs," Saleh said.
That's because his job is easily defined. Just go and get the quarterback.
"My role is to go that way," Ford told reporters in March during his introductory press conference while pointing forward. "Nothing else."
And in case that wasn't clear enough, Shanahan added, "And 'that way' is towards the quarterback."
To do that, Ford has to be completely healthy. The team figured it was better to rest him now than to have to deal with a lingering issue in-season.
