Could DeForest Buckner Come Home? 49ers Loom as Natural Suitor After Colts Fire Chris Ballard

The San Francisco 49ers have spent the first five weeks of the season proving they can win in just about any circumstance.

Still, Monday morning’s news out of Indianapolis may have handed John Lynch the opportunity to turn a very good team into an overwhelming favorite.

The Colts fired general manager Chris Ballard after a 2-4 start, and the most intriguing veteran who could shake loose in the aftermath is a familiar face to anyone who watched the 49ers march to Super Bowl LIV.

DeForest Buckner was the heartbeat of that 2019 defensive front, a second-team All-Pro who rounded out a dominant four-year run in red and gold with 28.5 sacks before the front office traded him to Indianapolis for the 13th overall pick rather than meet his contract demands, extending Arik Armstead instead.

It was a business decision that made sense on paper, yet San Francisco’s defense has rarely looked quite as suffocating since he left.

Now the stars appear to be aligning for a homecoming. Buckner made his frustration plain after Sunday’s 26-20 loss to a previously winless Titans team, saying he was “sick and tired of the same song and dance every year,” and less than a day later, Ballard was gone.

The 32-year-old is in the final season of his contract and headed for free agency in March.

With the Colts already lacking first-round picks in both 2026 and 2027, an interim front office has every reason to listen to offers for an expiring veteran.

For the 49ers, the need is impossible to ignore. San Francisco lost six of its 10 defensive linemen in the first two weeks of the season and has already run 15 different players through the position group, with Nick Bosa among those sidelined and youngsters like Alfred Collins and CJ West landing on injured reserve.

Raheem Morris has worked minor miracles with the patchwork group, as the defense has surrendered just 93 points through five games, but leaning on depth pieces and undrafted rookies is a far shakier proposition in December and January than in October.

Buckner would bring an immediate stabilizing presence to the interior, a 6-foot-7 run stuffer who can still collapse a pocket and who already knows what it takes to anchor a championship-caliber line.

He would also slide into a locker room that clearly wants him back, as Kyle Juszczyk made obvious when he publicly urged his former teammate to “come home.”

The pieces fit on the business side as well. San Francisco entered the week with the most cap space in the league, and Lynch has never been timid at the deadline, swinging October 10 or November trades since 2017 and recently welcoming back familiar faces like Dre Greenlaw and Deebo Samuel.

Chicago and others will surely call, and the price may climb if Indianapolis plays hardball. But for a 49ers team chasing a ring, few moves make more sense than bringing Buckner home before the November 10 deadline.