Halfway through the season of his life and there are moments Dee Ford knows the man across from him is beat even before the snap. Some of this is technical, like where his hips are compared to the offensive lineman’s outside leg. Some of it is feel, like knowing a pass is coming and the tackle cannot backpedal faster than Ford can sprint.
Some of it is simple confidence, too, a supremely gifted athlete now using five years of professional rises and falls to become the dominating, game-changing terror on the edge the Chiefs expected with their first pick of the 2014 NFL Draft.