Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Dee Ford will be a free agent this offseason, but as much as he would love to return to the Chiefs, he understands that it is not entirely up to him. He also knows that there is a chance that fellow linebacker Justin Houston will not be back in Kansas City next year, but if Ford does return, he hopes that Houston will be there with him:

“It’ll be very disappointing,” Ford said of Houston's potential departure, according to Lynn Worthy of The Kansas City Star. “Justin, him and Tamba (Hali) were basically my mentors since I stepped into this league. They could have easily not taken me under their wing, but they did. It’ll be very disappointing for me to not be able to continue what we started this year, healthy finally. It’ll be very disappointing, but at the end of the day I hope it all works out.”

While Houston is under contract for the next two seasons, he has an out in his contract this offseason and will make $15.25 million in 2019.

Ford also wants to rewrite his wrong from the AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots, when a neutral zone infraction penalty on Ford wiped out what may have been a game-clinching interception late in the fourth quarter:

“That was an opportunity for the whole city of Kansas City to make history,” Ford said. “It is what it is at the end of the day. I’ll take it on the chest, and I’m going to use it as motivation. Sloppy football on my end at the end of the day, whether it’s six inches, however many inches I was offside.”