Colts’ DeForest Buckner ranked #71 on ‘NFL Top 100’ before the 2023 season

According to the annual ‘NFL Top 100’ released on NFL Network, Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner has been ranked as the league’s 71st best player per a recent survey of the league’s players:

Since his arrival via San Francisco ahead of the 2020 season, Buckner has consistently been the Colts best player during that same span—as Indy’s other top players have either been limited by occasional injuries or underperformance respectively.

The 6’7”, 295 pound defensive tackle (with 34 1/2” tentacle arms) continues to be a Top 5 defensive tackle in all of football and an interior force for the Colts.

Buckner had 74 tackles (44 solo), 11 tackles for loss, 8.0 sacks, 3 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery during 16 starts this past season.

It looks like in order to view Buckner’s ‘NFL Top 100’ video, you have to be an NFL+ premium subscription member—which is a new development from prior years.

Buckner has two years remaining on his current Colts contract, so he figures to be a disruptor in the middle of Indy’s defensive line for at least a few more seasons—as a difference-maker as both a pass rusher and run stopper.

Along with Grover Stewart, the Colts have one of the league’s elite defensive tackle tandems—and that doesn’t figure to change heading into the 2023 campaign.