49ers bring back DeForest Buckner in a trade with the Colts for a fourth-round pick

The San Francisco 49ers traded for defensive tackle DeForest Buckner on Tuesday, bringing back the player they drafted seventh overall in 2016. They sent the Indianapolis Colts a 2027 fourth-round pick, according to ESPN.

It was the Colts' second big trade of the day with an NFC West team. Earlier Tuesday they sent guard Quenton Nelson to Seattle.

Buckner, 32, made three Pro Bowls and is in the final year of his contract. He would have been an unrestricted free agent after the season, and as an 11-year veteran the best compensatory pick Indianapolis could have gotten for him was a 2028 fifth-rounder, ESPN reported. The trade gets the Colts a fourth-rounder a year earlier.

He did not hide his frustration after Sunday's loss in Minnesota, the Colts' third straight. Asked about the team's struggles, he told a reporter, "I don't know. How about you guess. I'm frustrated. Same thing. We lost."

San Francisco (6-1) needed help up front. The 49ers pressured Michael Penix Jr. on three of his 34 dropbacks in Sunday's loss at Atlanta, and ESPN Research has them at a 23% pressure rate when they rush four or fewer, second worst in the league. Their line has played much of the season without tackles Alfred Collins, C.J. West and James Thompson Jr. and ends Nick Bosa and Sam Okuayinonu. Buckner is expected to start next to Osa Odighizuwa.

His four sacks this season are more than any 49ers player has through seven weeks. Since 2016, only Buckner, T.J. Watt, Cameron Jordan and Chris Jones have at least 75 sacks and 25 batted passes.

General manager John Lynch traded Buckner to Indianapolis for a first-round pick in 2020, after the run to the Super Bowl and before Buckner was due a big extension. Lynch has called it the hardest decision of his tenure. Buckner joins Deebo Samuel and Dre Greenlaw as former 49ers who have come back this year.