Who is Indianapolis Colts top candidate to win Defensive Player of the Year in 2025?
Who is considered the Indianapolis Colts' top Defensive Player of the Year candidate for the 2025 NFL season?
Jacob Infante of Pro Football Network recently selected who he believes the top candidate is for each team. When it came to the Colts, DeForest Buckner was the selection.
"With 58.5 sacks over his last seven seasons, DeForest Buckner has long been one of the best pass-rushing defensive tackles in the NFL," wrote Infante. "He's a three-time Pro Bowler and a two-time All-Pro, but Buckner hasn't been a Defensive Player of the Year finalist yet. If he manages to stay healthy for a full 17 games, that could change in 2025."
The last five NFL Defensive Player of the Year winners
An ankle injury sidelined Buckner from Weeks 3-7 last season, but upon his return, he was his usual highly disruptive self.
Even with missing five games, Buckner was still third on the team in pressures. Compared to his position group league-wide, he ranked seventh in PFF's pass rush win rate, 12th in pass rush productivity, and ninth in run-stop rate.
That level of efficiency over the course of a full season has the potential to turn into some high-level production. In 2023, Buckner ranked 14th among all defensive tackles in pressures that year, and he was tied for eighth in sacks.
For some context, and of course, the production that's needed to win this award each season differs, but when Aaron Donald won in 2020--the last defensive tackle to do so--he led all defensive linemen in pressures and sacks, according to PFF.
Along with Buckner's own production, his presence on the field greatly benefits all the defenders around him with the attention he draws, the push he generates, and the mismatches he helps create.
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