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The 49ers didn’t activate defensive end Dee Ford on Wednesday. That means his 21-day practice window officially expired and the 30-year-old’s eighth NFL season is over.
Ford went down in Week 7 with a concussion, but lingering issues with a back injury that’s plagued him since college forced him onto injured reserve and ultimately ended his season.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Wednesday in a press conference said he doesn’t think more surgery is on the table for Ford, who’ll now depart to Kansas City where he does his outside rehab work. While retirement isn’t certain for Ford, the 49ers head coach intimated that it’s on the table.
“I mean, that’s what it sounds like, but you’d have to talk to him about that,” Shanahan said. “It’s a back thing that I don’t know if there’s much rehab for it. You have to keep resting it and we’ve done that a bunch, so it’s been tough on him, tough on us and it’s just an unfortunate injury.”
Ford also missed 15 games last season because of the back injury. He played in only 11 regular season games in 2019 as well because of various ailments. San Francisco unloaded a 2020 second-round pick to acquire Ford from the Chiefs during the 2019 offseason, and signed him to a five-year deal worth $85.5 million.
A contract restructure this offseason left no guaranteed money on the table for Ford next year, making it easy for the 49ers to part ways with him at relatively low cost. Shanahan said the team hasn’t made any final decisions about Ford’s future yet.
“This year? No, we’re not doing that now,” Shanahan said of releasing the defensive end. “I mean, it’s always a possibility, but no, that’s not something we’ve discussed yet or decided on.”
If Ford’s time in San Francisco is up, he’ll finish with 18 games played across three seasons and just 378 defensive snaps. He tallied 22 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks, 1 pass breakup and three forced fumbles.