DeForest Buckner did not hide how he felt after the Indianapolis Colts fell to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. Standing at his locker after the game, he said he was "pissed off" and "sick and tired of the same song and dance every year."
That is why his name is back in the middle of John Lynch talk. The 49ers drafted Buckner in 2016, went to the Super Bowl with him in 2019 and then traded him to the Colts after losing to the Kansas City Chiefs, a move that now looks more painful because the team has since moved on from Arik Armstead and Jimmie Ward too.
The timing matters because the Colts are now 2-4, and Buckner's frustration landed just as San Francisco's need for help up front is getting harder to ignore. The 49ers' defensive line lacks depth and a high-end closer, even though they sacked Sam Darnold five times last week. That kind of burst can change a game, but it does not erase the larger problem: a pass rush that still needs someone who can finish when the first wave does not get home.
There is also a reason the reunion talk is not as simple as it sounds. Nick Bosa has not fully recovered from his third ACL tear, is out with a calf strain and still has not participated fully in practice this year, which leaves the 49ers thinner than they want at the exact spot Buckner used to own. The old fit is obvious. The missing piece is whether the Colts would even listen, and what San Francisco would have to put on the table before the deadline to make it happen.
Buckner's anger was about more than one loss, and that is what gives the moment its force. It also put a former 49ers cornerstone back in the frame for a franchise that once let him go and may now need him more than it wants to admit.
