Colts reportedly trade DT DeForest Buckner to 49ers

The Indianapolis Colts continued moving assets out on Tuesday, trading defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the San Francisco 49ers for a 2027 fourth-round pick, NFL Insider Tom Pelissero reports.

Buckner returns to a 49ers team that selected him with the No. 7 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.

A two-time All-Pro and three-time Pro Bowler, Buckner was traded to the Colts in March 2020 after four seasons with the 49ers. In 95 career games in Indianapolis, he recorded 63 total tackles and 47 sacks.

After moving guard Quenton Nelson to the Seattle Seahawks earlier Tuesday, Colts interim general manager Ed Dodds is stockpiling draft picks in order to rebuild the roster. A 2-5 record and three straight losses have put the organization in a position to wave the white flag and look towards 2027.

Buckner expressed his frustration with the Colts' lack of success this season following the Week 7 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. That came a week after saying , "I'm sick and tired of the same song and dance every year," after losing to the previously winless Tennessee Titans.

The 32-year-old Buckner is in the final year of his contract and, after receiving a $10 million roster bonus in March, is still owed a little under $8 million for the rest of the season. He carries a $26.6 million salary cap hit, which will leave $10.8 million in dead money on the Colts' books, according to Over the Cap .

If he wasn't moved before the Nov. 10 NFL trade deadline, he was all but certain to leave in free agency.