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:
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.