49ers: Dee Ford expected to miss Week 2 against the New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers’ defensive end Dee Ford is expected to miss Week 2 with a neck injury.

The San Francisco 49ers have been hit with an unprecedented string of injury misfortune since the summer started. And now they’re set to be without one of their top defensive playmakers this Sunday with Dee Ford declared out.

Ford set out with a goal of playing in all 16 games this season after missing significant playing time in two of the last three seasons. Unfortunately, after just one week, his goal has been rendered a failure.

The 29-year-old practiced fully on Wednesday but was held out in both Thursday and Friday’s practice. Head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters that Ford showed up on Thursday morning complaining of neck pain.

The injury was tentatively diagnosed as neck spasms and up until Saturday, the 49ers were listing Ford as questionable. But less than 24 hours before kickoff, it was announced that Ford had officially been downgraded to out, as a result.

Ford dealt with knee and hamstring injuries throughout the 2019 season and it forced him to miss five games. He did undergo a knee procedure back in February that he hoped would alleviate his persistent knee issues.

And throughout the summer, he looked fresh and healthy for the first time in a long while. Unfortunately, this latest neck injury is yet another setback.

Dee Ford is the latest 49ers player to go down with an injury.

Ford is the latest in a long line of 49ers players to be sidelined with injuries. Just this week, the team placed both Richard Sherman and Richie James on injured reserve which will keep them out for at least the next three weeks.

They join the likes of Deebo Samuel and Jalen Hurd on IR adding to the growing list of 49ers players on the sidelines. The good news is that the 49ers will return both Brandon Aiyuk and Ben Garland this week after both missed Week 1.

With Ford out, expect veteran Kerry Hyder to step into the starting lineup in the base defense. But with the Jets regularly utilizing three receivers, Hyder might not see nearly as much playing time as Ford did last week.

We could also see the 49ers dress Kentavius Street who was a healthy scratch in Week 1 just to provide more defensive end depth.

The injuries keep piling up for San Francisco and Ford is just the latest to be impacted.