No. 5: Defensive Tackle DeForest Buckner
A year removed from a Pro Bowl-snub season in 2018 — one in which resulted in him being named Pro Football Focus‘ No. 43 overall player heading into this season — third-year pro DeForest Buckner is on the verge of having a massive breakout-like campaign.
Sure, his three sacks a year ago don’t look great on the stat sheet. But it doesn’t tell the story behind his 19 quarterback hits a year ago, which were tops among all defenders, per PFF.
It looks as if that’s going to continue into 2018.
Buckner has been a regular standout on nearly every camp daily review from nearly every beat writer and insider. Here’s what Niners Wire’s Chris Biderman had to say about Buckner’s early training camp efforts:
"DeForest Buckner, the other first-round pick in 2016, has been his dominant self early on and seems poised for his first Pro-Bowl berth."
And 49ers.com’s Joe Fann:
DeForest Buckner dominated today, and Kyle Shanahan said he's getting better every day.
— Joe Fann (@Joe_Fann) July 31, 2018
On Buckner being left off the NFL's top 100 list:
"He's in my top 100."
It would be easy to rank Buckner higher on this list, of course. But it’s pretty certain most fans expected him to be here anyway.