Acquisition of DeForest Buckner Like Christmas for New Colts D-Line Coach
After being hired as Indianapolis Colts defensive line coach in March, Brian Baker began an assessment of the players he would be coaching.
The initial concern was depth on the interior. As Baker was reviewing film of the Colts, he was also looking around the NFL at interior defensive players who would be ideal for coordinator Matt Eberflus’ system.
Then a guy Baker couldn’t help but notice on film became one of his players when general manager Chris Ballard traded his 2020 first-round draft choice to San Francisco to acquire All-Pro defensive tackle DeForest Buckner.
“When Chris pulled the trigger on DeForest, man, holy cow, I couldn't believe it,” Baker said in a June 4th Zoom video conference call. “It was like Christmas.”
Buckner, 26, fills the Colts’ all-important need as a three-technique defensive tackle, which means he lines up in a gap and is disruptive. In his case, he excels as a pass rusher and run stopper. Buckner has 262 tackles in 63 games, 38 for losses, with 28.5 sacks, 11 passes defended, seven fumble recoveries, and three forced fumbles. He earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2019 and made the Pro Bowl in 2018.
Baker, whose past five years have been in college, admittedly didn’t know much about Buckner before the film study. He was looking at San Francisco defensive tackle Sheldon Day, an Indianapolis native that the Colts signed as a free agent, when Buckner kept showing up.
“I’m like, ‘Who's the big ‘ol 99? This dude can play,’” Baker said. “And I’m like, ‘Man, it’d be great …’ and you end up looking, ‘OK, DeForest Buckner,’ like, ‘Man, it'd be good to get this guy.’”
That doesn’t mean the Colts have everything solved on the defensive line, but Buckner’s presence impacts everyone else, including his coach, who can focus more on other spots.
Defensive end Justin Houston, the team’s 2019 sack leader with 11, returns as an edge rusher. Defensive end Kemoko Turay was just starting to emerge in his second season when he broke an ankle at Kansas City in Week 5.
“A guy like Turay, he just has to stay healthy,” Baker said.
Others who could figure prominently as edge rushers are Denico Autry, who has been playing defensive tackle, as well as Tyquan Lewis, who can play inside and out. Al-Quadin Muhammad had the first three sacks of his three-year career last season. Ben Banogu was a 2019 second-round choice who struggled as a rookie, but the Colts still like his upside.
Baker said he gets teased about defensive tackle Grover Stewart being his favorite because the fourth-year pro fits his coach’s preferred style of play, like that of a bar-room brawler.
“Grover is a big, explosive guy,” Baker said. “He does actually play a little bit more like players I’ve had in the past in different systems, where he does ‘snot-bubble’ guys but he has a unique athletic skill set where he can hit guys, get off, and still penetrate and make plays.
“He’s kind of the bouncer in the group. I call him the Rottweiler where those other guys are Greyhounds.”
(Phillip B. Wilson has covered the Indianapolis Colts for more than two decades and authored the 2013 book 100 Things Colts Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. He’s on Twitter @pwilson24, on Facebook at @allcoltswithphilb and @100thingscoltsfans, and his email is phillipbwilson24@yahoo.com.)
