After trying to patch something together the past two seasons, the San Francisco 49ers finally addressed their pass rushing woes by trading for former Kansas City Chiefs defender Dee Ford.
Ford is entering his sixth NFL season and just turned 28-years old. He's had two seasons with 10-or-more sacks, including a 13-sack campaign in 2018.
49ers general manager John Lynch joined KNBR on Friday morning and was asked about Ford and if rushing the quarterback is a young man's game. Ford isn't old, but he will be 32 at the end of his new deal with San Francisco.
"We see Dee really as an ascending player," Lynch said on the "Murph and Mac" show. "I think when you look at him, I think it was 2016, had put 10 sacks up. He had double-digit sacks and (was) really becoming a force, was really starting to put his game together.
"[In 2017], he ran into some back injury (issues) in training camp. When you speak to Dee, he thought he was really poised to have his best year then. He then followed that up in [2018] with 13 sacks and really was tough and difficult for anybody to block.
"The more we watched Dee, we got comfortable eventually with his medical, and then his play just spoke for itself. So we thought it was a really good fit. You talk about first steps. That's such a crucial skill for a pass rusher to have, and we really believe that Dee has the finest first step in football."
Ford's presence on defense will impact the players around him, too. Players like defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, who recorded a career-high 12 sacks in 2018, has to be grateful for the added help.
"So you just think that for the last couple of years, we've had DeForest Buckner, who is a terror inside," Lynch continued. "But the tackles can kind of hang because they haven't been threatened on the edge. Now you've got a guy who's pulling them. The tackles, they try to sit, Dee's going to be around the corner.
"So it's going to open things up for DeForest, for Solomon Thomas, for Arik Armstead, for all those guys that are playing in the middle. I think they were smiling bigger than anybody (when we traded for Ford). And so we think he's a great addition, and really fits well with what we needed as a football team."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.