A closer look at his stats game by game reveals stat padding against inferior competition. He was a non factor in the seccg.
First five games of the year he had 9 of his 11 sacks against the likes of Indiana, Vandy, Murray state, Arky State and Florida. The last 5 games against teams like Georgia, Auburn, A&M, okl state and SCe he had all of 1.5 sacks.
He's a decent player but he showed his caliber against quality linemen and offenses.
Michael Sam didn't have 9 sacks by the fifth game of the year, Florida was the seventh game of the year, and 4.5 of Sam's 10.5 sacks came from Florida, South Carolina, and A&M...
Anyhow, of Dee Ford's 8.5 sacks (two less than Michael Sam), 4 came from Ole Miss, Western Carolina, and Florida Atlantic. So just like Sam, approximately half of his sacks came from relatively weak teams.
Similarly, when Ford played the likes of Georgia, Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee, LSU, and Mississippi State, he had all of 1.5 sacks.
Plus sacks aren't the only stats to consider. Sam had 17 more tackles. Ford has 2 tackles per game against teams like Western Carolina and Tennessee, or 3 against Ole Miss, but you assert that Sam's stats are padded because he got more tackles against lesser teams (7 against Murray State, 5 against Arkansas State) and still had good games against better teams (5 against South Carolina, 5 against A&M, 3 against Auburn).
I'm not arguing that Sam is light years ahead of Ford by any means. Nor am I saying that Sam is better than Ford if you were to match the two against the same teams throughout the year. But when it comes to awarding a defensive player of the year, should you not look at their stats? Sure, there are other intangibles to take into account, but the stats go a long way.