The Kansas City Chiefs are placing the franchise tag on outside linebacker Dee Ford after the best season of his career Stitched Darwin Thompson Jersey , though that could be just the first step in their dealings with him.The decision was made on Saturday, a person familiar with it told The Associated Press, three days before the league’s deadline for franchising players. But the Chiefs have discussed signing Ford to a long-term deal, and they are open to trade possibilities as they switch their base defenses.The person spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity because the move was not finalized as the paperwork awaited filing. ESPN.com was first to report the Chiefs had made the decision.The franchise tag for an outside linebacker next season is just over $15.4 million, a number the Chiefs could easily fit under the salary cap. But general manager Brett Veach has made it clear since taking over last year that he is open to making any moves that help the overall club.That could mean a long-term contract — the deadline for doing that with a franchise player is July 15 — or trading away one of the league’s top pass rushers.“He had an outstanding season. He was at the top of his game,” Veach said during his year-end discussion with reporters. “When we drafted Dee a few years ago, all those things that we envisioned for him, he kind of showed that he was that player.”But that also came in former defensive coordinator Bob Sutton’s scheme, which is built around a 3-4 base. The Chiefs fired Sutton after an AFC West-winning season culminated in an overtime loss to the Patriots Darwin Thompson Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys , and hired Steve Spagnuolo to implement a 4-3 scheme.“The one thing he can do, and we all know this, he is an explosive football player that makes a lot of plays,” Spagnuolo said recently. “He’s had some production and if he is here with us, I’ll be excited to have him and be excited to work with him.”Ford was the Chiefs’ first-round pick in 2014 out of Auburn, but he struggled with injuries and the adjustment to the NFL his first couple seasons. He only played in six games with two sacks in 2017, but had a career-best 13 sacks and forced seven fumbles this past season.That performance made the franchise tag a palatable option.“Obviously, Dee is a player that has done so much for us, in particular last year Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys Stitched ,” Veach said. “We have a special thing brewing here and I think everyone wants to keep this thing rolling.”The Chiefs also have a decision to make with fellow outside linebacker Justin Houston, who had nine sacks in 12 games last season. He carries a salary cap hit of $21.1 million, a number the Chiefs would like to drive down either by restructuring his deal or potentially releasing him.“I would say that he’s under contract for this year and next year,” Veach said at the NFL’s scouting combine this week. “Again, our plan is to play with him and we look forward to having him on our roster. There’s a lot of dialogue and I think everything is fluid for the next few weeks until we get into the start of the league year. We’ll kind of handle that — the information we get, what’s real, what’s not real — and it’s a good problem to have because he’s a great player.”The ‘18 Chiefs offense is so different, Travis Kelce was speechless Travis Kelce took the podium for his first press conference of the regular season Wednesday, as the Kansas City Chiefs began preparing for their Week 1 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. Believe it or not Discount Darwin Thompson Jersey , if you include his injured year in 2013, it is the start of Kelce’s sixth campaign with the team.There is a stark difference in 2018, of course, as it will be his first year working with a quarterback other than Alex Smith, the Chiefs turning the organizational reins over to second-year QB Patrick Mahomes this offseason.Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty ImagesKelce no doubt has a different manner to him early in 2018—and I find it to be a good thing. His approach to each press opportunity is cool, calm and collected, like that of someone who knows he is a team leader, a role he may need to play this season.Even at the ripe age of 28, Kelce is one of the eldest Chiefs on the starting offense.Kelce was asked early on in the press conference about how the Chiefs’ offense may be different with Mahomes than with Smith in previous seasons Super Bowl Darwin Thompson Jersey , and the question gave him pause. “Um...it’s uh...without saying too much it’s, um...”Well what is it?“I can’t really—I don’t want to give away too much of the secret,” Kelce finally said. “It’s going to be fun to get out there. It’s new for everybody, so I think it’s something everyone can really get excited about, even the fans.”But would he say there are going to be some tangible differences?“Oh, without a doubt,” he said, this time more sure of himself. “Definitely some differences in a good way.”At this point, we had to know Darwin Thompson Jersey nfl draft , right?So I asked Mahomes—what is the 2018 brand of Chiefs football?“We want to attack every aspect of the field,” Mahomes said. “I feel like we have the weapons to attack short, we can run the ball, we can stretch the defense deep, we can attack the middle with the guys that we have. “We just want to make sure that we have to keep the defense honest on every single play. They can't send everybody back and try to cover the deep ball—we’ll run the ball on them. And then if they bring everybody in the box, we want to be able to attack them deep.“We just want to make sure we can attack everywhere on the field.” It sounds like it could be a bit for the Chargers to manage. Four more days until we find out.