The body of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein arrives at City Hall Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023, in San Francisco. Feinstein’s casket was then displayed at City Hall. Feinstein, who died Sept. 29, served as San Francisco mayor. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Joe Biden praised the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday as a dear friend and a woman of deep integrity who fought to protect what was important to America: freedom, civil liberties, security and the U.S. Constitution.

“She was always tough, prepared, rigorous, compassionate. She always served the people of California and our nation for the right reasons,” Biden said in recorded video remarks played at Feinstein’s memorial outside San Francisco City Hall.

Roughly 1,500 invited guests were at the private service, where two large screens showed photos of Feinstein over the years. Guests seated in white chairs sweltered on an unseasonably hot day as the U.S. Navy Blue Angels flight team soared overhead, occasionally interrupting speakers with the roar of their jets.

The flight demonstration squadron is in the city as part of Fleet Week, an annual San Francisco celebration started by Feinstein in 1981 when she was mayor.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer were scheduled to deliver remarks, along with Feinstein’s granddaughter, Eileen Mariano, who will speak for family.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a former San Francisco mayor, and former Gov. Jerry Brown were in the audience.

The service marks the end of two days of events in the city that launched Feinstein’s political career.

On Wednesday, hundreds of mourners streamed into City Hall to pay their respects, honoring Feinstein as fearless, smart and the glue who kept the city together after two shocking political assassinations.

Many said they had never met her but wanted to honor an indefatigable public servant who fought to level the playing field for women, members of the LGBTQ+ community and racial minorities.

Feinstein died early Friday at her home in Washington, D.C., of natural causes, said Adam Russell, a spokesperson for her office. She was 90.

Feinstein was one of California’s first two women U.S. senators, a job she first won alongside Barbara Boxer in 1992, dubbed the ” Year of the Woman.”

Feinstein spent much of her career in the U.S. Senate but will be known as the forever mayor of San Francisco, a role she inherited in tragedy. She was president of the Board of Supervisors in November 1978 when a former supervisor assassinated Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, the city’s first openly gay supervisor, at City Hall.

Feinstein, who found Milk’s body, became acting mayor and won election twice to serve as mayor until 1988.

Georgia Otterson, 76, a health care administrator, said Feinstein wasn’t as politically liberal as she would have liked, but the late mayor earned her respect with how she kept the heartbroken city together.

“We were all mourning together, holding candles. If memory serves me, Joan Baez sang,” Otterson said of an impromptu march that night from the historically gay Castro District to City Hall. “And she held us up.”

As a centrist Democrat, Feinstein was criticized by people on the left, including for her support for the death penalty, and in her later years, for working with Republicans. But the straight, white woman largely earned the gratitude of a city that celebrates its racial and sexual diversity.

She steered San Francisco through the HIV and AIDS crisis, bringing attention to an epidemic ignored by President Ronald Reagan. She also secured federal and private funding to save the city’s iconic cable cars from death by deterioration.

Feinstein led the city as it played host to the Democratic National Convention in 1984. Another San Francisco tradition — “Fleet Week” — was started by Feinstein in 1981, and this year’s annual celebration of air shows, naval ships and military bands is dedicated to her.

While Feinstein’s career sent her to Washington, she remained deeply involved in the affairs of San Francisco, the city where she was born and raised. She often called her successors — including Newsom — to complain about potholes or trash and to offer advice and encouragement.

Breed recalled looking up to Feinstein when she was a Black kid growing up in public housing and playing the French horn in a middle school band that performed regularly at mayoral events.

“She was so proud of us and she said so, and she took the time to talk to us, express how amazing we were and to remind us that we were her band,” Breed said at a news conference the day after Feinstein’s death.

Mourners Wednesday expressed their pride in Feinstein.

“She kept moving on up. I was proud of her, very proud of her,” said Dorothy Hudson, 81, a retired federal government employee. “She was very kind, very smart. She opened doors up to let people know, ‘You can do it.’”

San Francisco native Cari Donovan placed a bouquet of red and pink lilies and daisies on the floor before the casket. She lingered, crying quietly over a woman she never knew but who was so important to her life.

“She championed and fought for the rights of so many people,” Donovan said. “I’m so grateful. And I really just wanted her family to know how much she meant to me.”

The social worker said she talked to her 28-year-old daughter about the battles Feinstein fought so that younger generations of women could dream bigger. “She was a lioness.”

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JANIE HAR
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — President Biden praised the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday as a dear friend and a woman of deep integrity who fought to protect what was important to America: freedom, civil liberties, security and the U.S. Constitution.

“She was always tough, prepared, rigorous, compassionate. She always served the people of California and our nation for the right reasons,” Biden said in recorded video remarks played at Feinstein’s memorial outside San Francisco City Hall.

Roughly 1,500 invited guests were at the private service, where two large screens showed photos of Feinstein over the years. Guests seated in white chairs sweltered on an unseasonably hot day as the U.S. Navy Blue Angels flight team soared overhead, occasionally interrupting speakers with the roar of their jets.

The flight demonstration squadron is in the city as part of Fleet Week, an annual San Francisco celebration started by Feinstein in 1981 when she was mayor.

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Vice President Kamala Harris and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer were scheduled to deliver remarks, along with Feinstein’s granddaughter, Eileen Mariano, who will speak for family.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a former San Francisco mayor, and former Gov. Jerry Brown were in the audience.

The service marks the end of two days of events in the city that launched Feinstein’s political career.

On Wednesday, hundreds of mourners streamed into City Hall to pay their respects, honoring Feinstein as fearless, smart and the glue who kept the city together after two shocking political assassinations.

Many said they had never met her but wanted to honor an indefatigable public servant who fought to level the playing field for women, members of the LGBTQ community and racial minorities.

Feinstein died early Friday at her home in Washington, D.C., of natural causes, said Adam Russell, a spokesperson for her office. She was 90.

Feinstein was one of California’s first two women U.S. senators, a job she first won alongside Barbara Boxer in 1992, dubbed the “ Year of the Woman.”

Feinstein spent much of her career in the U.S. Senate but will be known as the forever mayor of San Francisco, a role she inherited in tragedy. She was president of the Board of Supervisors in November 1978 when former supervisor Dan White assassinated Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, the city’s first openly gay supervisor, at City Hall.

Feinstein, who found Milk’s body, became acting mayor and won election twice to serve as mayor until 1988.

Georgia Otterson, 76, a health care administrator, said Feinstein wasn’t as politically liberal as she would have liked, but the late mayor earned her respect with how she kept the heartbroken city together.

“We were all mourning together, holding candles. If memory serves me, Joan Baez sang,” Otterson said of an impromptu march that night from the historically gay Castro District to City Hall. “And she held us up.”

As a centrist Democrat, Feinstein was criticized by people on the left, including for her support for the death penalty, and in her later years, for working with Republicans. But the straight, white woman largely earned the gratitude of a city that celebrates its racial and sexual diversity.

She steered San Francisco through the HIV and AIDS crisis, bringing attention to an epidemic ignored by President Ronald Reagan. She also secured federal and private funding to save the city’s iconic cable cars from death by deterioration.

Feinstein led the city as it played host to the Democratic National Convention in 1984. Another San Francisco tradition — “Fleet Week” — was started by Feinstein in 1981, and this year’s annual celebration of air shows, naval ships and military bands is dedicated to her.

While Feinstein’s career sent her to Washington, she remained deeply involved in the affairs of San Francisco, the city where she was born and raised. She often called her successors — including Newsom — to complain about potholes or trash and to offer advice and encouragement.

Breed recalled looking up to Feinstein when she was a Black kid growing up in public housing and playing the French horn in a middle school band that performed regularly at mayoral events.

“She was so proud of us and she said so, and she took the time to talk to us, express how amazing we were and to remind us that we were her band,” Breed said at a news conference the day after Feinstein’s death.

Mourners Wednesday expressed their pride in Feinstein.

“She kept moving on up. I was proud of her, very proud of her,” said Dorothy Hudson, 81, a retired federal government employee. “She was very kind, very smart. She opened doors up to let people know, ‘You can do it.’”

San Francisco native Cari Donovan placed a bouquet of red and pink lilies and daisies on the floor before the casket. She lingered, crying quietly over a woman she never knew but who was so important to her life.

“She championed and fought for the rights of so many people,” Donovan said. “I’m so grateful. And I really just wanted her family to know how much she meant to me.”

The social worker said she talked to her 28-year-old daughter about the battles Feinstein fought so that younger generations of women could dream bigger. “She was a lioness.”

AP researcher Randy Herschaft in New York and writer Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Photos: Sen. Dianne Feinstein through the years

Supervisor Dianne Feinstein holds a news conference at her San Francisco home, Sept. 17, 1971 to announce she is a candidate for mayor of San Francisco. Asked how she rated her chances against incumbent Joseph L. Alioto, she replied with one word: “Good.” She told the news conference that leadership will be the campaign’s key issue. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Richard Drew

Dianne Feinstein, 38-year-old President of the City-County Board of Supervisors and candidate for mayor of San Francisco, prepares to cast her ballot in San Francisco on Nov. 2, 1971. The city’s registrar of voters has predicted a 75 percent turnout for the election in which Mayor Joseph L. Alioto seeks another term in office. (AP Photo/Sal Veder)

Sal Veder

Acting Mayor Dianne Feinstein with Police Chief Charles Gain at left, addresses the more than 25,000 people jammed around San Francisco’s City Hall, Nov. 28, 1978 as city residents staged a spontaneous memorial service for slain officials Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Man at right is not identified. (AP Photo)

Anonymous

Dianne Feinstein elected to finish out the term of the late San Francisco Mayor George R. Moscone, addresses the Board of Supervisors following her election in San Francisco Monday, Dec. 5, 1978. (AP Photo/Sal Veder)

Sal Veder

Mayor of San Francisco Dianne Feinstein is shown in her office, Dec. 11, 1978. (AP Photo)

STF

Mayor of San Francisco Dianne Feinstein speaks in Washington, D.C., March 13, 1979. (AP Photo/John Duricka)

John Duricka

Rep. Abner J. Mikva (D-Ill.), and San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein hold a Capitol Hill news conference in Washington, Jan. 25, 1979 to promote presidential and congressional action for strong handgun control. (AP Photo/John Duricka)

John Duricka

San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein carries a candle as she lead an estimated 15,000 marchers also carrying candles during a march in memory of slain Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in San Francisco, Nov. 28, 1979. In the background is a sign that says “Gay Love is Gay Power.” (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Paul Sakuma

Mayor Dianne Feinstein leaves the voting booth in San Francisco, Dec. 11, 1979, after casting her ballot in the run-off election for mayor. The mayor faces Supervisor Quentin Kopp in the runoff as she attempts to become the first woman elected to the city’s highest office. (AP Photo/Jim Palmer)

Jim Palmer

Diane Feinstein with Pope John Paul II in Vatican City, Sept. 8, 1982. (AP Photo)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang escorts San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein in the Zeguangge, Pavilion of Purple Light, where they met in Peking, Saturday, Nov. 10, 1984. (AP Photo/Neal Ulevich)

Neal Ulevich

San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, right, and Mayor Richard Berkley of Kansas City, Mo. appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee at Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, August 16, 1982 which is holding hearings on antitrust problems which professional sports teams. (AP Photo/Scott Stewart)

Scott Stewart

Democratic Senate candidates Barbara Boxer, left, and Dianne Feinstein raise their arms in victory and wave to supporters at an election rally in San Francisco, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 1992. The two women claimed victory over their Republican male rivals, Bruce Herschensohn and Sen. John Seymour. (AP Photo/Alan Greth)

Alan Greth

Former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, left, and Rep. Barbara Boxer raise their hands in victory during an appearance at the airport in Burbank, California, Wednesday, June 3, 1992. The two women won the Democratic nominations for the two California U.S. Senate seats. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Paul Sakuma

Walter Mondale gestures to supporters as he is greeted by San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein outside her home as she arrived to attend a fund-raiser reception in San Francisco, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 1984. Mondale had been in San Francisco for an after noon rally where he picked up the endorsement of the Sierra Club. (AP Photo/Lana Harris)

Lana Harris

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., reacts after the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission announced on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, June 25, 1993, that the shipyard in Long Beach in Calif., would remain open. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is at right. (AP Photo/Stephen R. Brown)

Stephen R. Brown

California Senator Dianne Feinstein and Roland J. Johnson, assistant director of the San Diego district for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, tour the San Ysidro Border Crossing in San Diego, Wednesday, July 7, 1993. Feinstein has proposed a $1.00 fee for crossing the border. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

Lenny Ignelzi

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein gestures to friends on Thursday, Oct. 27, 1994 at the San Francisco Fire Department’s fireboat berth during a demonstration of equipment used to supply emergency drinking water to Rwandan refugee camps. Feinstein was instrumental in getting the equipment, credited with saving nearly 150,000 lives in Rwanda, shipped to the war-torn African nation. (AP Photo/Dwayne Newton)

Dwayne Newton

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., arrives at a Democratic election party in San Francisco, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2006. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

PAUL SAKUMA

Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., left, discusses re-introduction of legislation to expand a nationwide Amber Alert communication system to help find abducted children. Left to right are Feinstein, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Sen. Orrin, R-Utah, and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Feinstein said Tuesday they would try again to create a nationwide Amber Alert network to help track down suspected child abductors.(AP Photo/Dennis Cook)

DENNIS COOK

** FILE ** In this July 17, 2008, file photo, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., left, President Bush, center, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., speak about the California wildfires in Redding, Calif. Firefighting costs have soared since a firestorm in Southern California in 2003. Schwarzenegger cited the expense as a factor when he deferred wages for state workers and laid off others recently as he contends with an overall budget shortfall. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Evan Vucci

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., center, flanked by Sen. Christopher Coons, D-Del., left, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT., right, take part in news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011, to discuss Judiciary Committee action on legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. Feinstein is the lead sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. walks to a closed-door briefing with intelligence officials, Wednesday, June 4, 2014, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

J. Scott Applewhite

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. is surrounded by reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014, as she leaves the Senate chamber after releasing a report on the CIA’s harsh interrogation techniques at secret overseas facilities. Feinstein branded the findings a “stain on the nation’s history.” (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

J. Scott Applewhite

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., attends a signing ceremony for a federal grant for the “regional connector transit corridor” in Los Angeles Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. The light rail public transit system in Los Angeles is getting $670 million to solve one of its most vexing design deficiencies: Train riders who want to travel from one side of downtown and out the other must transfer twice. The “regional connector,” as the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority calls it, will tie together three existing light rail lines with a new tunnel and three new stations. Major construction should begin later this year, with an estimated cost of $1.4 billion. It will be opened in 2020. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Damian Dovarganes

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., waves after speaking at a news conference about health care at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Friday, July 7, 2017, in San Francisco. Feinstein addressed how Medicaid cuts in the Senate Republican health care bill would devastate care for children. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Eric Risberg

Vice President Mike Pence administers a ceremonial Senate oath during a mock swearing-in ceremony to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., accompanied by her husband Richard Blum, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019, in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Manuel Balce Ceneta

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.,Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., walks at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

J. Scott Applewhite

Actress and activist Angelina Jolie, center, is joined from left by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, at a news conference to announce a bipartisan update to the Violence Against Women Act, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

J. Scott Applewhite

FILE – Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., arrives for the Senate Democratic Caucus leadership election at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. Feinstein’s months-long absence from the Senate has become a growing problem for Democrats. Feinstein’s vote is critical to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominees to the federal courts, but Feinstein is away from the Senate indefinitely as she recovers from the shingles. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

J. Scott Applewhite

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., left, talks with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., right, before a Senate Judiciary Committee business meeting, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Mariam Zuhaib

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., walks through a Senate corridor after telling her Democratic colleagues that she will not seek reelection in 2024, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

J. Scott Applewhite

You can reach Howard Yune at 530-763-2266 or hyune@napanews.com.

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The suspect, accused of using a metal pipe to attack a former San Francisco fire officer, was released from custody on Thursday and is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing at the end of May.

Former San Francisco Fire Department Commissioner Don Carmignani suffered serious injuries after he was attacked with a metal pipe by a suspect outside his mother’s San Francisco home in early April, according to prosecutors. According to the prosecutor, Carmignani was therefore unable to testify in the preliminary hearing on Thursday.

The judge on the case granted the prosecution’s request to postpone the hearing to May 23 and released suspect Garret Doty, whom San Francisco police had charged with assault with a deadly weapon, from prison.

Kleigh Hathaway, Doty’s public defender, claims her client was not the attacker in the incident but rather protected himself from the former firefighter, who she says attacked several homeless people with bear spray, including Doty.

Hathaway also released surveillance video, which she says showed Carmignani attacking Doty with bear spray minutes before Carmignani was attacked with the metal pipe.

On April 5, Carmignani called 911 to report three homeless people at a camp outside his mother’s home in the affluent Marina neighborhood, he said in a statement to CNN.

“That evening I arrived at my mother’s house and told these individuals to leave,” Carmignani said in the statement. “The incident culminated in one of the people pulling out a piece of metal pipe and hitting me on the head several times.”

Carmignani was hospitalized and underwent emergency surgery, his statement said.

Carmignani’s attorney, Samuel Ray, said in a statement that the San Francisco Police Department did not respond to the morning call about people camping outside his client’s home and that “no one from the SFPD or the DA’s office ever conducted an interview or attempted to conduct an interview.” Don on his version of events.”

CNN questioned SFPD about Ray’s allegation. The District Attorney says the SFPD has requested an interview on multiple occasions.

Other homeless victims, says the public defender

Video from outside a gas station shared by Camignani’s lawyer appears to show the former firefighter trying to defend himself while being hit by a man with a metal pole. The video does not show the moments before the altercation.

A separate video, also provided by Carmignani’s lawyer and apparently taken from a nearby building, shows the former city official running down the street with Doty at his heels, swinging his rod at Carmignani’s head as he flees .

Doty’s public defender told reporters Wednesday the case was a self-defense case, in part because she says there appears to be a repeating pattern of someone matching Carmignani’s description allegedly walking within a four-block area between November 2021 and his attacked homeless people with bear spray and January 2023, based on police reports provided to her by prosecutors and police.

“In all of them the victims are not housed, the victims are either sleeping in their tents, sitting on a bench and minding their own business,” Hathaway said, citing police reports of eight separate attacks on homeless people included in discovery evidence that she has received. “Luckily, one of them was caught on video.”

CNN has requested the police reports but has not yet received them.

Carmignani has denied being the person in the videos of the bear spray attacks and says he did not commit any of the attacks.

A copy of the video provided by the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office shows an apparently homeless man sleeping outside on a sidewalk. According to Hathaway, the video was recorded in November 2021 on the same street as Carmignani’s residence.

“He goes and sprays a giant can of bear spray – the same gun that was used in the Doty incident – he sprays this bear spray on the homeless. Don’t just walk by, focus on the victim’s face for at least a few seconds and then walk away,” she says.

“This man is described as 5’10”, 6’1″, 280, 300 pounds, gray hair, brown hair. Very similar and apt to what Mr. Carmignani looks like,” she said.

“I am confident that my client was aware of his (Carmignani’s) past violence,” Hathaway said, captioning an April 5 video that appears to show the first confrontation between Carmignani and her client. In that video, Hathaway says Doty can be seen running away, and the “first thing he does” is crouch down and cover his head with this coat, “implying that he’s experiencing the violence of the bear spray.” knows and has been exposed to this violence in previous incidents.”

When asked why Carmignani wasn’t charged in connection with the homeless attack, San Francisco District Attorney Brooks Jenkins told reporters Wednesday, “Nothing has been submitted to our office by the police requesting that they do anything for their purpose.” the indictment.”

Jenkins stated that she viewed a video, but that “it’s just an allegation at the moment as to who it is” and that further investigation is needed.

Jenkins added that prosecutors will continue to focus on the April 5 incident. “I am concerned about the incident that brings us to court today,” she said. “So this specific incident and what was happening at that point in time is what is primarily relevant at this point.”

According to Jenkins, Carmignani has not yet given an interview to the San Francisco Police Department, although he did do a sit-down interview with CNN affiliate KPIX.

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Former Auburn standout Dee Ford will be looking for a new NFL opportunity. San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch told reporters this week that the team is moving on from Ford, who has missed significant time due to injury.

“I don’t see a lot of hope with him being a factor for us on the field moving forward,” Lynch said of Ford at the NFL Annual Meeting, per NBC Sports Bay Area. “I think we tried to be as patient as possible, and no fault of Dee, he just ran into a bad situation with his back, where he couldn’t get healthy.”

A 2013 All-SEC selection, Ford went to the Kansas City Chiefs with the No. 23 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. He played for the Chiefs through the 2018 season. On March 2, 2019, Kansas City placed the franchise tag on Ford. Less than 2 weeks later, the Chiefs traded Ford to San Francisco. Ford and the Niners then agreed to a 5-year deal worth $87.5 million.

Ford played in 21 games for the 49ers. Over the last 2 seasons, though, he appeared in just 7 games. Ford was placed on injured reserve in 2020 with a neck and back injury, playing in just 1 game. This past season, Ford played in 6 games, landing on IR again in November.

San Francisco has not yet officially parted with Ford.

“We’ll figure that out, exactly what the transaction will be,” Lynch told reporters. “But not enough hope and progress to see him playing for us moving forward.”

Over his professional career, Ford has played in 85 regular-season games, including 43 starts. In the regular season, he has tallied 159 tackles, 40 sacks, 12 forced fumbles and 7 passes defended. He has also played in 8 postseason games (4 starts), logging 17 tackles and 2.5 sacks. In 2018, Ford was selected to the Pro Bowl and led the NFL in forced fumbles with 7.

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