DeForest Buckner is not going anywhere anytime soon. The Indianapolis Colts have secured and taken care of one more critical piece of their core.
The Colts have utilized the run it back approach, spending their offseason re-signing players from their 2023 roster, and Buckner is the latest. The Colts announced in the early morning hours of Monday that they have extended their do-everything defensive tackle.
The Colts did not release any financial details about the extension. According to multiple reports, Buckner will earn $46 million to stay another two years in Indianapolis, ‘Nap Town’. His current contract is set to expire after the 2024 campaign, so he will remain with the Colts through 2026.
Buckner, 30 years-of-age, is going into his ninth season in the NFL, and his fifth with the Colts. He was drafted seventh overall by the San Francisco 49ers out of the University of Oregon in 2016, and he has exceeded and surpassed the lofty expectations of that high draft position. Over his career, he has registered 166 solo tackles, 32.5 sacks, 42 tackles for loss, 87 quarterback hits, and six forced fumbles, plus three Pro Bowl nods. He is the definition of a jack of all trades. The Colts acquired Buckner from the 49ers in March 2020, sending their first-round draft pick as compensation.
Embed from Getty Images“DeForest has been the epitome of what it means to be a Colt the last four years,” general manager Chris Ballard said in a statement.
“As one of the premier defensive tackles in the league, he is a destructive force on our defensive line. DeForest is one of the pillars of our locker room. His hard work, consistency and approach to the game are vital to the success of our team.”
This move is the latest in a series by Indianapolis to cement one of its foundational players after a plethora of other re-signings earlier in the offseason. The Colts went all in and had already committed approximately $190 million in new money to extensions for a group of returning players that includes receiver Michael Pittman Jr., cornerback Kenny Moore II, nose tackle Grover Stewart and linebacker Zaire Franklin.
The Colts, who have now brought back 10 players from the 2023 squad, went 9-8 in 2023, narrowly missing the playoffs, which is not a result most teams would willingly want to repeat. But head coach Shane Steichen and general manager Ballard have a good reason to want to try again with the same group of players in 2024: Anthony Richardson. The Colts took Richardson, a raw and unproven quarterback, with tons of upside, fourth overall in the 2023 draft out of the University of Florida. He got off to an unsettling start to say the least, but they believed in Richardson’s ability to grow into the role.
Unfortunately, Richardson sustained a shoulder injury in Week 5 and eventually underwent surgery that caused him to be sidelined for the rest of the season, so you cannot blame the Colts for wanting a mulligan on 2023. And by re-upping Buckner, wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., cornerback Kenny Moore, just to name a few, they are setting themselves up well even if Richardson struggles a bit in his return.
