Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner continues to be the engine of the defense as he enters his fourth season with the team.
In ranking the top-11 interior defensive linemen in the NFL entering the 2023 season, our friends over at Touchdown Wire still believe Buckner is worthy of a top-five selection amongst his peers.
Here’s a snippet of what Doug Farrar said about putting Buckner at No. 5 among all interior defenders:
If it seems odd that Buckner has made just two Pro Bowls (2018, 2021) and just one All-Pro nod in his career, that’s because it is. Among interior defensive linemen since Buckner’s rookie season of 2016, per Pro Football Reference, only Aaron Donald and Fletcher Cox have more total pressures than Buckner’s 161, and only Donald has more sacks than Buckner’s 47. And Buckner’s far from a one-trick pony — last season, he had 33 run stops, third-most among interior defensive linemen, to go along with his nine sacks, 13 quarterback hits, and 34 quarterback hurries.
Though Buckner didn’t lead the team in sacks during the 2022 season—that was Yannick Ngakoue—he did record his third consecutive season with at least 7.0 sacks. Meanwhile, he lead the entire defense in quarterback hits (22) and was second on the team with 11 tackles for loss behind linebacker Zaire Franklin.
Working primarily from the three-technique, Buckner benefitted from Gus Bradley’s attacking front. If the Colts can get a breakout campaign from Kwity Paye, Samson Ebukam or Dayo Odeyingbo, offensive lines won’t be able to combo block Buckner as much, giving him more 1-on-1 looks.
Even at 29 years old, Buckner can still be considered in his prime given the age apex for defensive tackles is later than the majority of positions.
Buckner will continue to be a massive part of the defense going into 2023, and it’s not a stretch at all to believe he can maintain top-five status at the position for at least one more season.
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