Fantasy Football Fallout: DeForest Buckner Goes Home to San Francisco

The Colts are sending defensive tackle DeForest Buckner back to the San Francisco 49ers, per Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter. The price is a 2027 fourth-round pick. Buckner is 32 years old and on an expiring contract, and San Francisco picks up the $7.944 million left on his deal this season.

This is a homecoming with history. The 49ers drafted Buckner seventh overall in 2016, and he gave them 28.5 sacks across his first four seasons. In 2020 they traded him to Indianapolis for the 13th overall pick, and he spent six plus seasons anchoring the Colts defensive line, making three Pro Bowls along the way. Now the team that drafted him gets him back for a fourth-round pick.

He can still play. Through seven games this season Buckner has 31 tackles, four sacks, three passes defensed and a fumble recovery. San Francisco is 6-1 with a defensive line thinned by injuries, including losing Alfred Collins for the season. Buckner walks straight into the middle of a contender's defense.

Start with the defensive streamers on the fantasy football page, because the 49ers defense is the biggest fantasy winner in this trade and it is available in a lot of leagues right now.

A defense that was already playing winning football just added an interior pass rusher who collapses pockets. Sacks and pressure drive fantasy scoring for a D/ST, and Buckner raises both. San Francisco's unit goes from a matchup play to a start you can trust most weeks, and if it is sitting on your waiver wire, this is the week to grab it before the price changes.

The other side is Indianapolis, and it is not subtle. The Colts are 2-5, they fired general manager Chris Ballard in midseason, and today alone they traded Buckner and eight-time Pro Bowl guard Quenton Nelson. The two deals cleared over $17.7 million in cap space and brought back a third, a fourth and a fifth-round pick. That is a franchise waving the white flag in October.

For fantasy, a Colts defense that was already giving up points just lost its best player. Downgrade the Indianapolis D/ST everywhere and start your borderline players against them with confidence. Bad defenses getting worse is one of the most reliable edges in weekly lineup decisions.

The name to watch now is Jonathan Taylor. When a team sells its Pro Bowl guard and its Pro Bowl defensive tackle on the same day, nobody on the roster is untouchable, and Taylor is the most valuable trade chip Indianapolis has left. Taylor managers do not need to panic sell. They need to know what they are holding: an elite back whose situation can change completely before the deadline.

The call: pick up the 49ers defense where it is available, stream your skill players against Indianapolis and keep Taylor but keep your eyes open. Fire sales do not stop halfway.