Most essential Colts, No. 6: DeForest Buckner is their best defender
In a salary-cap league like the NFL, finding building blocks is essential. As teams churn and burn the roster through the draft and bargain signings in free agency, it helps to find the players who are either a cut above the rest or can perform a task few others can. They relieve the pressure on everyone.
Over the next few weeks, we'll be ranking the 15 most essential players to the Colts' success in 2024. It's a subjective process, weighing factors such as ability, positional value within a scheme, age, leadership and durability.
To make it simpler, we're asking the following two questions about these players:
1. How difficult would he be to replace for more than a month?
2. What does the Colts' 2024 ceiling become if this player hits his?
With the return of Anthony Richardson from shoulder surgery, the Colts’ outlook is on the future but also on the present after a 9-8 season fell a fourth-down conversion short of winning the AFC South. This list will primarily look at 2024 value, but certain players' development for the long-term can help to break ties along the way.
Here's the list so far:
9. Kenny Moore II, nickel cornerback
12. Laiatu Latu, defensive end
14. Zaire Franklin, linebacker
Today, we continue with No. 6, DeForest Buckner.
Position: Defensive tackle
Age: 30
Experience: 9th season
2023 stats: 81 tackles, 11 tackles-for-loss, 8 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 1 TD
Last year's rank: No. 4
Why he's here: DeForest Buckner is, simply put, the most consistently dominant player the Colts have.
The only other player even in that class is Quenton Nelson.
Since he arrived in 2019 from the 49ers via a blockbuster trade and mega extension, Buckner has been one of the most disruptive three-techniques in the game. He has played every single game and hit at least seven sacks in every one of those seasons. Now, he has a streak of six straight years with at least seven sacks that is matched only by Myles Garrett and Chris Jones.
Buckner doesn't see nearly the national hype those two do, as he's made just one Pro Bowl. But within the walls of West 56th Street, everyone is sure of Buckner's value. It's why the Colts extended him for two years and $46 million this spring, even as he had a year left on his deal and is entering his 30s.
That value has shown up in different schemes and with rotating faces at defensive end. Nothing really throws Buckner off, and that includes health, as he's often deal with hip or back issues but plays every single game. No other Colts star can claim the same.
Buckner arrived when the Colts needed a dominant three-technique to build out Matt Eberflus' Bears-style scheme. Now, in Gus Bradley's Seahawks-style approach, Buckner is more of an added layer of dominance. He gets to still rush often through the B-gap, a rare move for his position, and it only muddies the picture on an offensive line trying to deal with the Colts' "LEO" edge rusher. That past two years, Yannick Ngakoue and Samsom Ebukam have both reached at least nine sacks playing that spot next to Buckner.
At a mammoth 6-foot-7 and 295 pounds, Buckner also has the athleticism to bump out to the "big end" spot in Bradley's defense, guaranteeing a 1-on-1 matchup on the edge. Those otherwise come rarely, as Buckner is double-teamed more than just about any other player in the game now that Aaron Donald has retired.
Buckner is a master of raising the floor and the ceiling. He's the reason the Colts can survive spotty cornerbacks, as he lives in the faces of quarterbacks, and he demands double teams to create for others. But he can also wreck a game, like he once did against Patrick Mahomes for three quarters in a Super Bowl.
Buckner's only issue is not that he doesn't play a premium spot, since that's what he's turned his 3-technique role into. It's that he doesn't play offense, and there's a new objective dominating everything the Colts are doing this year. Buckner can't bring out the best and save the worst in Anthony Richardson the way the players above him on this list can.
But he can raise the floor and ceiling of this defense better than anyone else.
Contact Nate Atkins at natkins@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @NateAtkins_.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Most essential Colts, No. 6: DeForest Buckner is their best defender
