Colts' DeForest Buckner Responds to Trade Rumors
The NFL offseason is chock-full of buzz and rumors. Those rumors aren't always good, though, or even accurate, for that matter.
On Wednesday night, the Twitter page @nflrums tweeted a rumor about Indianapolis Colts star defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, intimating that he wants a trade out of town.
"#NFLRumors #Colts DeForest Buckner wants to play for a contender and could be traded," the account said. "Buckner has a $19.7M cap savings with trade with 0 dead money."
This particular Twitter account has a less-than-sterling reputation for reporting what it deems to be reality, but those who weren't already aware of that were caught off-guard by the Buckner tweet.
Buckner himself took to Twitter on Thursday morning to debunk the rumor.
"I need you to check your sources @nflrums," Buckner tweeted, including a GIF from the movie "Wolf of Wall Street" where Leonardo DiCaprio's character colorfully states, "I'm not leaving!"
So, there you have it. While it makes financial sense for a rebuilding team like the Colts to try and move Buckner or to acquire draft assets, he doesn't want to go anywhere and the Colts don't want that either.
Drafted No. 7 overall in the 2016 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers, Buckner earned a Pro Bowl (2018) and Second-Team All-Pro nod during his time in the Bay Area before being traded to the Colts in 2020 for the 13th-overall pick. He signed a lucrative four-year, $84 million contract extension at the time and since then has made another Pro Bowl (2021) and a First-Team All-Pro team (2020).
Since joining the Colts, Buckner has helped turn their defensive front into one of the best against the run and provided an interior pass rush that they'd been missing for years. He's one of the team's biggest leaders and is considered a "glue guy" in the locker room.
In seven seasons, Buckner has started 109-of-112 games and totaled 463 tackles (69 for loss), 53.0 sacks, 140 quarterback hits, 7 forced fumbles, 9 fumbles recovered, 20 pass breakups, 1 safety, and 1 defensive touchdown.
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