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SANTA CLARA — It wasn’t any big mystery whether or not DeForest Buckner would play, or start, in the 49ers’ first game since (re-)acquiring the disruptive defensive tackle.
But they sure held the suspense.
In yet another sign of the level of respect Buckner immediately commands in the 49ers’ locker room, his was the 11th and final name announced among the defensive starters Sunday.
And in a pretty good tell of Buckner’s immediate popularity with the 49ers’ fanbase, he received a louder roar than anybody else before their eventual 38-17 beatdown of the rival Raiders.
Louder than Fred Warner, who ceded his position as the usual pregame headliner.
Louder than Nick Bosa, whose name was called for the first time since Week 2.
“I had goosebumps,” tight end George Kittle said. “I think everybody had goosebumps that played with Buck, all the guys who are still here from 2019.”
The last time Buckner’s name was announced over the Levi’s Stadium loudspeakers was Jan. 19, 2020, before the NFC Championship Game, on the Niners’ way to Super Bowl 54.
“I definitely felt the love,” Buckner said, “and in that moment, I was like, ‘Man, I’m home.’”
Ahead of his first game in almost seven years in a Niners uniform — the same old No. 99 — Buckner said that he “definitely had some goosebumps.” He more or less requested to be traded to San Francisco, which sent a fourth-round pick to the Colts in return to reunite with the 32-year-old three-time Pro Bowler originally drafted by the team in 2016.
Even with Bosa and Buckner back together, the 49ers went a second straight week without recording a sack, only knocking down Kirk Cousins on six of his 32 dropbacks.
“At the end of the year, it’s how many sacks you have, and we think about that — don’t get me wrong,” Bosa said. “But we made some big rushes in some big moments, a goal line stand. We did a lot of good stuff, so sacks will come. Kirk definitely doesn’t want to hold on to [the football] too long. He was cringing a little bit back there.”
It wasn’t quite a re-coronation of the 2019 defensive line that the 49ers rode all the way to the Super Bowl. But on the whole, it would be hard to argue it wasn’t a Super Bowl-worthy showing.
The pair of former All-Pros combined for just two tackles, but the guys behind them took the ball away five times in the second half. As a team, San Francisco held the Raiders — and Ashton Jeanty — to an average of 1.4 yards on 16 carries. Bosa also impressively snuffed out a screen pass for a 4-yard loss, and Buckner twice came split-seconds away from sacking Cousins.
“I’ve got to go back and watch the film to really see just how big of an impact they had,” said Warner, who forced one fumble and recovered the other. “But, I mean, you can’t not be happy with the fact that we have both of them out on the field for us going forward.”
Buckner may just be the savior the 49ers didn’t even know they needed at the time of the trade after fellow defensive tackle Gracen Halton was carted off in the final minutes of the win. The standout rookie is expected to miss the rest of the season with a broken ankle.
“That was a cool thing about getting Buckner,” Shanahan said. “Some of these guys that we’ve been dependent on, like Gracen, just gave us a lot more depth. Yes, it sucked to lose one today, big time, but we still have good depth there.”
Halton had carved out an important role, on the field for 45% of the 49ers’ defensive snaps entering Week 9, but Buckner was already expected to take on many of those responsibilities.
While general manager John Lynch has until 1 p.m. Tuesday to make any additional moves, he kind of beat this one to the punch. Nevertheless, the season-ending blow to a promising young player amounted to a serious case of emotional whiplash in a romp that started on a high note.
Buckner thanked Warner for giving him the chance to go last in introductions. But according to Kittle, Warner might not be the only one deserving of the credit.
“Someone might say that was my idea,” Kittle smiled. “I went over Fred’s head.”
Whatever the case may be, this much is assured: Everybody’s overjoyed to have Buckner back.
“Just what he meant to us as a teammate, what he meant to us as a friend,” Kittle said, “to get him back and he’s still playing at an incredibly high level and the whole stadium just erupting, that just means the world to me.”
