It’s been a busy few days for the defensive tackle trade market. The first thing that happened was the Colts sending DeForest Buckner to the 49ers for a 2027 fourth-round pick, but that was quickly overshadowed by the Titans sending Jeffrey Simmons to the Bears for an absolute haul.

Yeah, that Simmons thing is obviously a massive move … But there probably weren’t many teams giving Tennessee a call and asking about him. DeForest Buckner, on the other hand, was very clearly done with Indianapolis and anyone could’ve traded for him. 

Were there really no other Buckner suitors?

San Fran was the most obvious destination for Buckner. The 49ers are the team that drafted him; he had four awesome seasons there, and pretty much every coach that he’s had success under is in San Fran this year …

But typically when there’s a trade with an established player like this, we get reports that other teams were interested in him. There have been a handful of tweets saying the Bears were in talks, but that’s pretty much it. Why? Why weren’t other teams in the conversation? We’ll probably never know, but these are some competitive teams who have fourth-round picks to spare, and probably could’ve used the help.

Buffalo Bills

The Buffalo Bills defense has been kind of brutal for more than a year. This offseason, they hired Jim Leonhard as their new defensive coordinator and signed defensive end Bradley Chubb … But those moves ultimately haven’t changed much.

They’re technically putting up better numbers against the run, but that’s because offenses are opting to go with the passing game more than the run game. Regardless, it stinks, and they’re not great in the trenches … But you know who could help with that? DeForest Buckner. 

He’s a rental player who clearly just wants to win football games, which is something he hasn’t really done a whole lot of since he was with the 49ers in 2019. If I were a veteran player (I’m not) who wants to change it up, and also ring-chase … I’d probably try to get my agent on the phone with Buffalo. But hey, that’s just me. 

Carolina Panthers

The Panthers aren’t really your prototypical “contender,” but they’re a team in the NFC North … so technically they are. One of their biggest problems is that their defense, in general, is pretty stinky.

Yeah, some guys are hurt, but they weren’t exactly blowing your mind when they were healthy.

You think back to Week 1 when the Bears were moving the ball at will: Initially, that game seemed like it was an outlier … then the season went on, and it really does look like this defense has some big-time issues in the trenches. 

A guy like Buckner might not have solved all their problems, but he would’ve definitely helped. Now they’re going to go into the trade deadline (albeit without much cap space), and they kind of need to address the problem if they want to get back on track. If they spend a fourth-round pick on someone, I think that it’s fair for us to compare that guy to Buckner when we all grade how teams handled the deadline. 

Kansas City Chiefs

Did you know that the Kansas City Chiefs have the second-fewest sacks in the NFL? They have eight, and the only team with fewer is the Dolphins. That’s bad company.

They spent a pretty solid amount of resources on the defensive line this year (Peter Woods and R Mason Thomas in the draft, and Khyris Tonga in free agency), so it’s not like they didn’t try to bolster the unit … But it clearly hasn’t given them the immediate boost that they probably want.

Despite playing for a bad Colts defense, Buckner is tied for second-most sacks for a defensive tackle with 4.0. That’s 0.5 fewer than Zach Allen, and tied with Dexter Lawrence, Jeffery Simmons, and Mason Graham. It’s also three more than anyone on the Chiefs roster.

The other plus side to a universe where the Chiefs trade for Buckner is that it would probably distract from them signing Justin Tucker … So, yeah … that too. 

Dallas Cowboys

I think you kind of have to put the Cowboys on any list that is about a team regretting not trading for a player. 

• The first reason is that Jerry Jones loves himself a trade at the deadline.
• The second reason is that the Cowboys' defense is terrible.
• The third reason is that Jerry is still trying to fill the void that Micah Parsons left.
• The fourth reason is that Buckner wouldn’t fix the defense.
• The fifth reason is that there’s a 100 percent chance that he comes out and says something very close to: “We would’ve loved to trade for DeForest Buckner. I regret not trading for him,” because he says that for just about every trade he didn’t make.