DeForest Buckner was the 49ers’ best player, but trading him to the Colts makes perfect sense

The San Francisco 49ers just traded arguably their best player to the Indianapolis Colts. Somehow, it was a good move.

DeForest Buckner, a 2016 first-round pick, was traded to Indianapolis in exchange for a first-round pick. The Colts immediately gave the defensive tackle a five-year contract worth $21 million per season.

Even at a steep price, Buckner is worth it. He fills a need for the Colts, who had the money to pay him. Buckner is similar to Aaron Donald in that he commands double-teams and can rush the passer while effectively stopping the run.

For 49ers fans used to watching Buckner’s brand of quiet destruction, losing him is a letdown. He was an instrumental piece of the 49ers’ all-world defense last season, and was highly productive in a close Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs.

But the trade makes a lot of sense when you look at the bigger picture.

Right before the 49ers traded Buckner, they signed fellow defensive lineman Arik Armstead to a six-year, $102 million contract. While it’s easy to point to that as the main reason Buckner is on the move, there’s more to it than that. Buckner is the superior player, but Armstead will be making $4 million less per year than he does.

Contract talks between Buckner and the 49ers began during last season, and the 49ers then got a pretty good idea of how much he’d cost. Buckner wanted money close to what Donald — the best and highest-paid DT in the league at an average of $22.5 million — is getting. They knew Buckner was going to be beyond their price range when it came time to extend him. It made sense to make a deal now, when Buckner’s value was at its highest and before he was set to hit free agency next offseason.

Finally, there’s the rest of the roster to consider. Here’s a look at the 49ers’ pressing contract needs, both this year and next:

Trading Buckner freed up more than $12 million in cap space immediately. Soon after, the Niners re-signed locker room favorite Ward to a three-year deal.

George Kittle is the biggest name on that list, and he’ll be in line to make more money than any tight end in NFL history. The 49ers now have the means to make sure he gets a huge contract extension before he hits free agency in 2021.

The 49ers are a complete team, but the financial side always pointed to some tough cuts. It just so happens that they got excellent value for a player they probably weren’t going to be able to afford to keep.

The 49ers will return every defensive starter, except for Buckner, in 2020. That’s good news for a defense that ranked in the top half of the league against the run and first against the pass last season. The secondary played well, but the defensive line was the catalyst for success in both areas.

Fortunately, the line remains a strength after Buckner’s departure. Armstead, reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year Nick Bosa, Dee Ford, and D.J. Jones are all locked down for the next few seasons, too.

One positive about retaining Armstead is that he can work inside too and probably will do so in 2020. Last season, he did some of his best work on the interior, according to Next Gen Stats.

With Ford expected to take on a larger role at one of the end spots, and Bosa being nigh-unstoppable from the other side, Armstead will likely move inside more often than not. That’s one reason Armstead is so valuable to the 49ers: he’s more versatile than Buckner and can move all over the line.

He’ll be paired with Jones, an underrated defensive tackle who is great at eating up space, and the young Jullian Taylor, an up-and-comer on the interior. There’s also Solomon Thomas, a former first-round pick who the 49ers are hoping can finally take the next step this coming season, in the same way that Armstead improved in 2019.

The 49ers lost a lot of brute force devastation with Buckner, but they may be trending toward a more finesse approach with Ford, Bosa, and Armstead that could be just as effective. Bosa’s development in his second year is important, because if he keeps improving, the 49ers’ pass rush will be truly ridiculous.

In exchange for Buckner, the Colts sent over the No. 13 overall pick in the draft. The 49ers can stay at No. 13, or they can package the pick along with their No. 31 selection to get more draft capital. Either way, they have a good opportunity to fill their largest roster hole: wide receiver.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense desperately needs a top target for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, to pair with Deebo Samuel and Kendrick Bourne. Sanders is a free agent and was a good one-year rental, but he’s not a home-run hitter.

At No. 13, the 49ers can virtually have their pick of wide receivers. Even if they move down, they can still nab a high-level playmaker in what is one of the strongest receiver classes in years. Cornerback or offensive tackle (to account for Joe Staley’s eventual retirement) is an option in the first round too.

But getting a true No. 1 receiver would make the NFC champions an even scarier team than they were last season. San Francisco had no stars at the position, and much of the team’s struggles centered around dropped passes. Even if the defense takes one step back, the offense can take two steps forward and that’s progress.

Both teams won the Buckner trade. The Colts gave up a lot, but because they had the space to offer Buckner a deal just shy of Aaron Donald money, they now have a defensive anchor for years to come.

The 49ers, on the other hand, have a premium draft pick and a defense that’s still stacked. The downside is obvious, because they’re losing a great player. But this was a move for the future, and it was a smart one.