San Francisco 49ers Take Oregon Defensive Lineman DeForest Buckner

With the seventh pick in the 2016 NFL draft, the San Francisco 49ers have taken Oregon defensive lineman DeForest Bucker.

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There was a lot of speculation as to which player would be the 49ers’ pick at this spot. Some said former Cal Bear and Bay Area native Jared Goff, but that was never a possibility with the top two teams taking quarterbacks. Some said a tackle, but Ronnie Stanley was off the board at six to the Baltimore Ravens, and Laremy Tunsil posted something (or had something posted) on his twitter account that probably hurt his stock. Buckner was seen as a possibility as well, and that possibility came to fruition on Thursday night.

Roger Goodell made the announcement at around 6 PM, and between boos that were directed at the NFL’s commissioner, there were some cheers for Buckner mixed in. He was not in Chicago for the draft, staying with his family in Hawaii.

Buckner is the second straight Oregon defensive lineman to be taken in the first round by the 49ers, joining Arik Armstead, who was taken 17th overall in the first round last year. Armstead and Buckner shared a defensive line in college from 2012 to 2014, and now will have an opportunity to be line mates again. Armstead totaled 14 tackles and two sacks in his rookie season, not great production by any means, but reviews for him were mostly better than the numbers show.

A 6’7″, 290-pound monster of a man, Buckner played 53 games in his four years with Oregon, and racked up 232 tackles. 36 tackles went for a loss. He also piled up 18 sacks, including 10.5 during his senior year. He used his long arms to deflect 10 passes at the line, including a career-high five last season. Bucker forced two fumbles, and recovered two more.

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• 49ers: George Kittle and Deebo Samuel cleared to return to practice
• 49ers expected to place DE Dee Ford on injured reserve
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• 49ers: Jordan Reed could miss up to two months, will be placed on IR

Buckner is seen as a five-technique at the next level, and given the 49ers lack of pass rush and solid defensive line depth, Buckner has a legitimate chance to come in and get a large chunk of playing time almost immediately.

The 49ers’ pass rush was very poor last year. They totaled 28 sacks, the fourth-lowest total in the league last season. Aaron Lynch and Ahmad Brooks both notched 6.5 sacks in 2015, tying for the team’s lead. With Ian Williams playing nose tackle and eating up blockers for the 49ers, it will give Buckner a chance to get into the backfield to stop runs before they can get started, or get to the quarterback.

Next: How Badly Does Kaepernick Want Out?

This pick does address a need for the 49ers, but there is still a lot of work to do for San Francisco. There’s still the possibility of a trade, maybe sending Colin Kaepernick (finally) out of San Francisco and opening a more dire need for quarterback. But San Francisco still needs to address their offensive line (which was a big mess last year), the defensive secondary, and possibly the wide receiver group before the draft comes to a close on Saturday.

But with this first pick, it looks like the 49ers made a good choice.