The San Francisco 49ers acquired three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner from the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for a 2027 fourth-round pick Tuesday.
This is the second major trade the Colts made with an NFC West team on Tuesday, following the trade of eight-time Pro Bowl guard Quenton Nelson to the Seattle Seahawks.
This marks a return to San Francisco for Buckner. 49ers general manager John Lynch has called trading Buckner to the Colts in 2020 the most difficult decision of his 10-year tenure on the job. On Tuesday, he righted that wrong.
Buckner immediately bolsters an injury-ravaged defensive line on the heels of a loss in Atlanta in which the 49ers pressured Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. on just three of his 34 dropbacks.
Buckner, 32, is entering the final year of his deal with the Colts and slated to become an unrestricted free agent after the season. Had Buckner signed this offseason with another team, the highest compensatory draft pick the Colts could have received was a 2028 5th-round selection being that he is an 11-year NFL veteran. With the trade, the Colts netted a 2027 fourth-round pick instead.
He was visibly angry after the Colts' third straight loss on Sunday, at the Minnesota Vikings.
Asked his reaction to the team's recent struggles, he uncharacteristically snapped at a reporter, saying, "I don't know. How about you guess. I'm frustrated. Same thing. We lost."
Buckner remained consistently loyal to the Colts through years of late-season collapses, signing multiple extensions with the team and maintaining his faith in the roster building of now-fired general manager Chris Ballard.
But his patience seemed to be wearing thin. After the Vikings loss, Buckner was asked what needed to change to help the team correct course.
"I don't know," he said. "I can't tell you."
The Niners (6-1) are in win-now mode as Buckner joins receiver Deebo Samuel and linebacker Dre Greenlaw as key players who departed San Francisco and are now making their way back to the Bay in pursuit of a Super Bowl title.
Buckner has 4 sacks on the season, which is more than any Niners player through seven weeks and tied with Adetiwa Adebawore for most on the Colts.
In San Francisco, Buckner will start alongside Osa Odighizuwa at tackle on a line that has played all or most of the season without tackles Alfred Collins (patellar tendon), C.J. West (knee) and James Thompson Jr. (ankle) and ends Nick Bosa (calf) and Sam Okuayinonu.
With so many moving pieces, the 49ers have struggled to generate pressure without blitzing.
According to ESPN research, the Niners have a pressure rate of 23% using four or fewer pass rushers, the second-worst mark in the NFL.
Buckner is one of four players with at least 75 sacks and 25 batted passes since he entered the league in 2016, joining T.J. Watt, Cameron Jordan and Chris Jones.
The 49ers originally used the 7th overall pick in the 2016 draft on Buckner. He spent his first four seasons in the league in San Francisco, which traded him for a first-round choice after the 2019 run to the Super Bowl and before he was due a lucrative contract extension.
ESPN's Stephen Holder contributed to this report.