Poona Ford was excellent in his first season with the Chargers where he played a pivotal role in helping them to the league’s number one scoring defense.
In Joe Hortiz and Jim Harbaugh’s first season with the Chargers, they were tasked with fielding a competitive roster despite an unfortunate cap situation on top of expected turnover across the depth chart. They signed a number of players on short “prove it” deals knowing the risk was low while the reward could be substantially greater. To the joy of Chargers fans, they hit on a handful of those moves, including defensive tackle Poona Ford, cornerback Kristian Fulton, and running back J.K. Dobbins.
All three played pivotal roles for the team this year. The former two helped get the Chargers to the league’s number one scoring defense while Dobbins helped the Chargers offense stay more balanced than they’ve been in recent years.
Ford, specifically, continues to get highlighted as one of the team’s best and most underrated defenders. In a new article by NFL.com, Ford was named the Chargers’ unsung hero of the 2024 season.
“On a revamped Chargers defense under Jesse Minter, there were plenty of welcome standouts, from Daiyan Henley to rookie Tarheeb Still to Elijah Molden,” says analyst Kevin Patra. “The one that kept sticking out to me was Ford. Every game, the 29-year-old made plays, stuffing a runner or pressuring the pocket. You couldn’t help but notice the 310-pound ball of flames in the middle. In 17 games, Ford tied career highs with three sacks, eight tackles for loss and nine QB hits. Among interior defensive linemen in PFF’s grading system, Ford rated No. 3 against the run and No. 5 overall. When Poona was on the field, the Chargers limited big run plays. L.A.’s defensive turnaround in 2024 doesn’t happen without the big man in the middle gobbling up blockers and creating havoc.”
Ford ended the 2024 season with 39 total tackles, eight tackles for loss, three sacks, five pass breakups, and one interception. His tackles for loss and sacks both tied his previous career highs while his pass breakups were more than he’d recorded in his entire career up to this point (five versus four from 2018-2023) and his lone pick was also the first of his career.
All year long, Ford was a spark plug for the defense. He seemed to always be around the ball, whether that was actually making the tackle or influencing the play enough to force a negative outcome for the offense.
After a strong season in Los Angeles, I’d truly be shocked to see him playing elsewhere in 2025.