Less could mean more sacks for DL Buckner
SANTA CLARA >> DeForest Buckner spent part of his offseason trying to learn the nuances of chasing the quarterback.
The best advice he got came from Michael Bennett of the Seattle Seahawks, a two-time Pro Bowl selection, who told Buckner: You’re too beastly to bother with nuance.
“He looked at me and said, ‘You’re big. You’re strong. You don’t need to be doing all those fancy little things that edge rushers do, like Von Miller,’ ” Buckner continued after a recent training camp practice. “He was just tell-
ing me: Be DeForest.”
That Yoda-like advice — may DeForest be with you — has the 49ers’ second-year lineman thinking big for 2017. And last year’s seventh overall selection expects to take a big leap up, even after making the Pro Football Writers Association All-Rookie Team.
“My main goal is to get at least 10 sacks this year because I know I can do it,” Buckner said. “I mean, I missed a couple of them last year and I just want to redeem myself.”
Buckner finished last season with six sacks. Only three NFL rookies had more: Joey Bosa of the San Diego Chargers (10 1/2), Yannick Ngakoue of the Jacksonville Jaguars (8) and Leonard Floyd of the Chicago Bears (7).
In an attempt to grow up fast, Buckner worked out with Bennett for the second consecutive summer. Joined by more than 20 active players — including 49ers teammates Arik Armstead, Ronald Blair and Eli Harold — the group pushed each other through bag, sled, and speed drills at the Hawaii Optimum Performance NFL Training Camp.
That’s where players from multiple teams come to train alongside Bennett, a respected veteran entering his ninth season.
During those grueling sessions, Buckner, a Waianae native, left an impression on his NFC West rival.
“I think DeForest will eventually be a Defensive Player of the Year. I think he has the talent to be able to do that,” Bennett told KHON-TV. “I keep telling him there’s nobody like him. He’s not normal. His physique, his speed, it’s not normal. So when you’re not normal, you can do notnormal things. And winning the defensive MVP is not normal for most people.”
Buckner understood Bennett’s message to let his 6-foot-7, 300-pound frame do the heavy lifting. But he paid attention to the little stuff, too. Bennett emphasized the art of hand placement, and how to vary that technique based on the style of the opposing blocker. (Even though Buckner and Bennett play in the same division, the 49ers lineman said they didn’t discuss specific offensive linemen.)
Bennett went so far as to individualize the lessons, noting that what works for him might not work for, say, Armstead or Blair.
“He’s a player that’s doing it really big now, today,” Buckner said. “He’s won a Super Bowl. He’s been to the Pro Bowl and done all those good things. So it’s a great opportunity to learn from a guy who is doing it right now.”
There’s another way in which Buckner might get more out of doing less. The previous 49ers coaching regime showed no regard for the concept of easing the rookie into action. Buckner played 97.5 percent of the team’s defensive snaps over the second half of the season, according to Pro Football Focus.
In one particular grueling stretch, PFF noted, Buckner sat out only six defensive snaps over a span of five games. He played all 84 snaps in an overtime loss to the New York Jets on Dec. 11.
That’s going to change. “When you look at a guy like Buckner last year having played almost 1,000 snaps, in my mind, that’s criminal,” new defensive coordinator Robert Saleh told Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee. “Ideally, all of them are working about 500, 600 snaps and trying to utilize everything they’ve got every snap that they’re on the football field.”
Buckner, upon arriving for training camp this year, said he had no objection to his rookie workload. (“Oh, yeah. I enjoyed every single bit of it,” he said) But the defensive line is one area where the 49ers, coming off a 2-14 season, look well stocked. The unit dominated the first few days of padded practice and there’s enough depth of talent there that it’s unlikely Buckner will be counted on for his Iron Man routine again.
By simplifying his game and by playing less, Buckner might be able to do more.
As Bennett told him: “Do what you can do. And one day kids will be, like, ‘I want to play like DeForest.’”