Colts News: Colts and IDL DeForest Buckner agree to contract extension

[Colt4Life]

The Indianapolis Colts are signing interior defender DeForest Buckner to a two-year extension worth $46 million, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. This keeps Buckner in Indianapolis through the 2026 season. Over the last year, we have seen the interior defensive line market really take off, and Buckner’s deal is the latest example of that. At $23 million per year, Buckner is now the fifth-highest-paid interior defender on a per-year basis. An extension this offseason always seemed to be the likely outcome as he was entering the final year of his current deal and continues to play at a very high level. Since he joined the Colts in 2020, Bucker is averaging almost 54 pressures per season and eight sacks during that span. In 2023, Buckner ranked fourth in pass rush grade from PFF. His 52 pressures also ranked 14th, while he tied for seventh in pass rush win rate and was 11th in run-stop rate. The best way to wreck any play for an offense is with quick pressure up the middle, which Buckner provides. That is not an easy role to fill but it is an important one, which is in large part why the interior defenders around the NFL who do that at a high level are receiving big pay-days. The contract details haven’t been specified yet in regards to how this impacts the Colts’ 2024 salary cap, but there is the possibility that it actually creates cap room for this season because prior to the move, Buckner had a cap hit of $22.75 million–the second-largest on the team. Or since the Colts do have some cap flexibility remaining this offseason and with free agency all but over, they could take on a larger cap hit in 2024 to provide themselves with some additional cap flexibility in 2025 and 2026.
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Source: https://coltswire.usatoday.com/2024/04/ ... extension/