Colts: DeForest Buckner disrespected in USA Today’s defensive tackle ranking

After an incredible 2020 campaign, Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner earned All-Pro honors for the first time in his career.

However, that wasn’t enough to wake up the staff at USA Today. It’s not that big of a surprise, though. The publication’s NFL predictions raise eyebrows and turn heads all the way around each and every year.

But before we get to that, let’s go through Buckner’s impact last year. He was an immediate force since being acquired in the blockbuster trade with the San Francisco 49ers. He registered 58 tackles, 9.5 sacks, 26 QB hits, 10 tackles for a loss, one safety and two forced fumbles in 15 games.

Honestly, those stats don’t even do his All-Pro performance justice. He was blowing up plays, disrupting the quarterback, and ruining assignments for opposing offensive linemen all year long.

Colts’ DeForest Buckner was disrespected in USA Today’s DT rankings.

And according to USA Today that’s … good enough for fourth place on their ranking of the game’s top 11 defensive tackles. How?!

Let’s get this out of the way first. Los Angeles Rams DT Aaron Donald is the undisputed best interior defensive lineman in the league. There’s no debating that.

But Kansas City Chiefs’ Chris Jones and Pittsburgh Steelers’ Cam Heyward? Come on now. Those guys didn’t come close to Buckner’s production from an all-around standpoint last year. Let’s take a quick look:

• Jones: 36 tackles (three for loss), 7.5 sacks, 28 QB hits and three forced fumbles
• Heyward: 54 tackles (seven for loss), four sacks, 19 QB hits and zero forced fumbles

We get that Heyward have a greater overall body of work than Buckner, but Jones has been in the league for the same amount of time and has 149 fewer tackles, eight fewer tackles for a loss, seven fewer fumble recoveries, the same amount of QB hits, only two more sacks, and four more forced fumbles. What are we missing?

At the very least, Buckner should be ahead of Jones and there should be a conversation about him vs Heyward … especially since Heyward’s two most successful seasons in 2019 and 2017 came at defensive end, which makes it a whole lot easier to disrupt and record sacks/tackles.

Looks like it’s time for Buckner to take a page out of Darius Leonard’s book. Mark this one down and use it for motivation starting Week 1. The Colts defense could use it after all the turnover and new faces that will need proper mentoring.

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