National Football League

Biggest winner from Houston's spring absence? Dee Ford, baby

Published May. 28, 2015 5:19 p.m. ET

foxsports

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Who says Justin Houston isn't a team player?

"Honestly, it's experience," Dee Ford says. "Like I said, I could tell you in the classroom exactly what I got. But once shifts and motions (start) -- that's what offenses want to do, they want to disguise things. Once you start to see it, (it's different). I saw 15 games of it last year, so it becomes easier and easier."

Some Chiefs could use practice. Ford needs it.

He needs snaps. He needs reps. Kansas City's second-year outside linebacker needs things running at 200 miles an hour in front of him. He needs to make mistakes on the fly, so he can unlearn the dumb and the bad and build up the good. In pilot terms, he needs flight time. And better to do it in the spring, with no pads and no stakes, than to have to figure things out in the pressure cooker of autumn, where one horribly wrong read can go insanely viral:

No Houston this month at organized team activities and minicamp is a win for two people, primarily: Houston, whose management team seeks leverage as it works to negotiate a long-term contract; and Ford, who gets a chunk of those first-team reps afforded by big No. 50's absence.

"You have to create a mental process," the Chiefs' first-round draft pick of 2014 explains. "Pre-snap awareness, seeing the formation. You have to do these things on your own to create muscle memory. And it's really seeing the formation and the balance."

Lookin' good! Flip through our photo album of NFL cheerleaders.

In the new-look, 12-month NFL calendar, May is about lifting and learning. A year ago, Ford was a hand-on-the-ground, 4-3 base SEC defensive end trying to figure out how to be an upright, 3-4 NFL outside linebacker, and quickly. A few things stuck right away, others didn't, and cue the occasional brain-fart that led to that aforementioned unfortunate read against the 49ers.

"Well, I spent more time this year doing football things," Ford says when asked to compare this spring to the one previous. "Last year, it was the Combine, Pro Day, private workouts, visits; it wasn't the same. Then I came into trying to learn a new position. I didn't have that luxury that I have this year."

This year he has mileage; mileage and some scars. All the iPads in the world don't add up to the value of experience, especially experience at game speed. The more time Ford gets to work on trial-and-error out on the practice field now, the better it is for everybody along Arrowhead Drive, short term and long.

If nothing else, it's building the "quality" part of quality depth behind Houston and veteran Tamba Hali, who turns 32 in November and is heading into the winter of his pass-rushing prime. And if Hali needs a blow or, heaven forbid, gets hurt, or Houston decides to join the Peace Corps instead of reporting to training camp, No. 55 is your Plan B. And C.

"My situational football, definitely (has improved), certain situations that I didn't quite understand," says Ford, who was credited with eight tackles and 1 1/2 sacks in limited duty last fall. "I could spit it out to you, but once the bullets were flying, it was different. But now that I have seen them ample amount of times and I've studied, it's coming to me."

Sometimes it comes quick. Sometimes it doesn't come at all. But Ford seems to learn more by doing, once he finds his comfort zone, especially if his 2014 breakdown on ProFootballFocus.com is to be believed:

• Chiefs' first eight games: 48 snaps, 1 sack, 1 QB hit, 1 QB hurry, minus 0.3 overall grade

• Chiefs' last eight games: 74 snaps, 1 sack, 2 QB hits, 3 QB hurries, +0.9 overall grade

"What makes me confident?" Ford asks. "Work. Work makes you confident. ... We're all going to compete and we're all going to bring things to the table to make each other better. I just know at the end of the day, we're going to get what we earn."

Including grief. As hard as you were on Ford in 2014, he was harder.

"Of course, I'm a perfectionist," he says. "So, you know, I walked away ready to get to work. I feel like I left a lot of plays out on the field (last year)."

Especially one in particular.

You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter at @SeanKeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com.