49ers Week 3 stock watch after Thursday night loss to Rams
By Peter Panacy
Defensive Tackle DeForest Buckner
San Francisco has had one constant within its defensive front seven this season, defensive tackle DeForest Buckner.
Buckner was excellent over the first two games of 2017. Entering Week 3, Pro Football Focus ranked him the No. 5 interior defender with an overall grade of 88.4. Following his efforts against the Rams, Buckner has moved up to No. 2 with a 90.2 mark — tied with Houston Texans’ J.J. Watt.
No wonder defensive coordinator Robert Saleh can’t get him off the field:
It's still going through our review process, but we have DeForest Buckner playing 58 of 65 snaps. Four days after playing 67 vs. Seattle.
— Jeff Deeney (@PFF_Jeff) September 22, 2017
Buckner is providing almost all the pass rush the Niners have generated this season and replicated those efforts against the Rams, even though San Francisco wasn’t able to record a sack.
That’s an issue for the next slide, but Buckner is certainly ascending nicely towards possibly being a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, as Seahawks defensive tackle Michael Bennett suggested.