Chiefs stock report: Dee Ford up, run defense down

Stock up

Cairo Santos

I have been critical of Santos for not being perfect in previous weeks. He was a perfect four for four on field goals, including a 51-yard kick when the Chiefs were unable to get into the end zone on Sunday. That ended up being the difference in the game.

Dee Ford

OK, this is getting ridiculous. Over the course of this season, he’s gone from bust to career average player to guy who can get sacks against bad teams and now ... one of the best pass rushers in the NFL. If you predicted this ... I don’t believe you. Kudos to Ford for proving himself for at least four weeks in a row and putting himself in a totally different conversation. He has improved strength, leverage, hand usage, bend, variety of moves, run defense and coverage. Maybe he did just need more snaps, huh?

Ramik Wilson

If we were wrong about Ford, many of us were certainly wrong about Ramik as well. Wilson is finishing plays with more aggression than we’ve seen, and he’s been involved in turnovers seemingly each week. Against Jacksonville, his interception was a great example of what you want your inside backer to do on pass plays. He got the proper depth on his drop, read the QB’s eyes, and even baited him a bit by following a player in coverage before breaking on the ball.

Others who came up big (at times) this week: Dontari Poe, Charcandrick West, Marcus Peters, Phillip Gaines, Steven Nelson, Eric Fisher

Stock down

Chiefs Run Defense

205 yards rushing for a 6.4 average. Missed tackles, missed gaps and lost contain led to long runs of 26 yards by Bortles and 42 yards by Ivory. Not good enough overall. Even if the game plan called for them to stop the pass first and compromise a bit on the run defense, they won’t win too many times giving up 200-plus on the ground.

The Chiefs Health

They were very shorthanded this week, and it showed. Chris Jones went down briefly with an ankle issue. Charcandrick West didn’t look quite 100 percent. They have some incredible talent on IR with Jamaal Charles, Allen Bailey, Parker Ehinger, Justin March and Justin Houston. Hopefully, this is the bottom and the team gets healthier for the stretch run. They’ve done well with depth thus far, but could ill-afford to lose anyone else.

Ron Parker

Parker was unable to cash in on some big opportunities this week, so he makes the stock down list in the midst of a great season. The dropped interception in the end zone was rough. He won’t see many that easy all year. Then, he gets flattened on a long run by Chris Ivory.

Others who struggled this week: the refs, Demetrius Harris, Tamba Hali

Stock Flat

Nick Foles

If there were a QB controversy (there wasn’t) it would have been over after one week. Foles struggled with accuracy and secondary reads, but hit a couple of deep passes. He is what he is: a tremendous backup. Alex Smith is expected to start again this week.

Travis Kelce

Made a couple of big plays then flagged back when he got flagged. He certainly was interfered with in a blatant way. BUT you can’t go after the officials like that. So, I did laugh, and he did apologize, but he could have cost his team a lot more than it did.

Albert Wilson

Wilson had his chance this week with Maclin hurting. He got eight targets including a beautiful TD pass and catch. But, he only caught three of the eight attempts, and lost five yards on his one carry. I would have preferred to see Tyreek Hill, DAT and / or Chris Conley get the targets when Maclin and Kelce aren’t in for a full game.

Others who are who we expect: Chris Conley, Jaye Howard, Daniel Sorensen