Colts’ Stephon Gilmore, DeForest Buckner Ranked Among PFF’s ‘Top 101’ Players from the 2022 Season

According to Pro Football Focus, a pair of Indianapolis Colts defenders, cornerback Stephon Gilmore and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, have joined safety Rodney McLeod on ‘The PFF 101’ from the 2022 season—ranked 75th and 67th respectively:

75. STEPHON GILMORE, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

Gilmore had a quiet resurgence this past season with the Colts, but it was largely overlooked because of how bad the team was overall. He finished with an 81.1 PFF coverage grade and eight pass breakups to go along with two inteGilmrceptions.

67. DEFOREST BUCKNER, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

One of the few players with significant positives to take away from an ugly Colts season, Buckner posted an 82.3 overall PFF grade and recorded 56 pressures and 47 defensive stops.

Despite the down season collectively for the team—although the defense was still generally pretty solid when it wasn’t on the field for the entire game or consistently given poor starting field position because of a dreadful offense, there were still a few silver linings.

This past season, Gilmore was PFF’s 9th best graded cornerback with a +79.1 overall grade—including a +81.1 coverage grade. Gilmore had at least two game-winning defensive plays for the Colts, having a pair of clinching, pivotal pass breakups late against both the Denver Broncos in Week 5 and later against the Las Vegas Raiders Davante Adams in Week 10.

Meanwhile, DeForest Buckner continues to consistently play at a Pro Bowl caliber level for the Colts defense, as he was PFF’s 9th best graded interior defender with a +82.3 overall grade during 2022, highlighted by a +77.7 pass rushing grade.

Both veterans are among the Colts best defensive players and should be for at least one more season together.