San Francisco 49ers: 5 best players in 2018 through Week 7
By Peter Panacy
No. 4: Defensive Tackle DeForest Buckner
Well, this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
Third-year defensive tackle DeForest Buckner is easily the 49ers’ best player on defense. And while his Pro Football Focus overall grade (77.5) is down from the high-80s, low-90s marks he was posting this time a year ago, that grade still ranks tops among the Niners’ otherwise porous defense.
Buckner leads San Francisco with 4.5 sacks, surpassing last year’s total (three) and is on pace to exceed the six he had his rookie season in 2016.
This kind of production will likely result in Buckner getting his first Pro Bowl nod after being snubbed last year.
Unfortunately, the 49ers’ other notable NFL Draft investments along the defensive line haven’t quite panned out to this point. Fellow defensive tackle Arik Armstead appears to be little more than a good player, and second-year defensive end Solomon Thomas continues to disappoint after being selected No. 3 overall in 2017.
Who knows what the future holds for those two. But it’s pretty obvious Buckner will be a cornerstone for San Francisco’s defensive front for quite a while.
If he was able to take over a game or two, Buckner would be ranked higher on this list. That hasn’t happened just yet.