There was something of a surprise Monday when the 49ers took the field for the team portion of Day 5 of training camp. Defensive end Dee Ford was lining up at his usual position with the starting group.
Ford was limited to individual work early in camp, as was the case for DE Nick Bosa and wide receiver Jalen Hurd. There was an expectation that he’d be on a similar timeline to that pair, but he was the first one to hit the practice field for the team session.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters after Monday’s practice that this was the plan all along for Ford, who missed all but one game last year with a back injury.
“It was the schedule. I mean, that was what we were, you map it out for everybody and you hope it goes that way,” Shanahan said. “You do it one day at a time. And talk to him. We talked to him about it yesterday on the day off and came in this morning and that was the plan. He stuck with it. And I think he got to about six reps out there today. And it was nice. I didn’t realize he was out there. I was looking downfield, but I felt him off the edge go right by me.”
This is a pretty stark change for Ford after talk surfaced in the offseason about whether he might hang up his pads. General manager John Lynch early in the offseason indicated Ford may not be ready to play at least to start 2021. Now he’s back in team drills on Day 5 of camp.
Ford was a key part of the 49ers’ Super Bowl run in 2019 and their pass rush was at its best when he was on the field. San Francisco signed Samson Ebukam to work in as an edge rusher, but he’s still something of a question mark in terms of how effective he’ll be in a regular pass-rushing role. Ford bringing depth to the defensive end spot would be a huge boost to the pass rush the 49ers’ defense is centered around.