When the alarm clock would rouse him from slumber at 4:30 a.m. on school mornings, DeForest Buckner told himself there was a deeper purpose.
When he made the two-hour bus ride from Waianae to Honolulu in the pre-dawn darkness and then undertook the return trip after an exhausting football practice with a night’s homework still ahead, Buckner reminded himself of the steadfast goal.
“Growing up in Waianae, my entire life, I always wanted to do something and be somebody,” Buckner recalled Wednesday after signing the richest guaranteed multi-year pro sports contract of any Hawaii athlete.
The five-year deal with the Indianapolis Colts will pay Buckner an average of $21 million annually with as much as $44.3 million guaranteed.
It is the second most lucrative deal ever earned by a defensive tackle in the NFL, behind only Aaron Donald, who is collecting $22.5 million annually from the Los
Angeles Rams.
The Colts traded their first-round pick in next month’s NFL Draft, the 13th overall selection, to the San Francisco 49ers, to make Buckner a pillar of their defense in an all-out bid to get to the Super Bowl sooner rather than later.
Along with the signing of free-agent quarterback Philip Rivers on Wednesday, Buckner said the moves herald the Colts’ “win-now mentality.”
It has been a whirlwind week for Buckner, who was traded Monday, celebrated his 26th birthday Tuesday and signed his milestone contract Wednesday.
It is a period he might have only dreamt about as a youngster, but something he pledged to reach toward in each step of a journey that took him to Punahou School, the
University of Oregon
and a first-round pick of the 49ers in the 2016
NFL Draft.
To be sure he was blessed with rare size, now measuring 6 feet, 7 inches and 295 pounds. But there was also a driving motivation and helping hands along the way.
“You grow up having all these dreams (of) being able to play at a professional level and it just kind of started with my mentality when I was younger,” Buckner told the Star-Advertiser in a conference call.
“Being able to get up at 4:30 every morning and go to school then two hours into town. Finishing up football practice, finishing up all my homework and everything and I’m not going to sleep until 10:30, so it was just a recycled thing,” Buckner said. “I just learned to really push myself and make sacrifices along the way to get to where I wanted to be. It trickled into Oregon and to where I am today.”
Where he is today is one of the most formidable defensive linemen in the game, a force in stopping the running game and in putting pressure on quarterbacks. He racked up 19.5 sacks and 34 quarterback hits in the last two seasons while exhibiting remarkable durability. Buckner played in 63 of 64 regular-season games and took 77% of the defensive snaps, third most among defensive linemen.
All of which helped take the 49ers, an organization he had hoped to stay with, to the Super Bowl. “To find the fact that (there is) a possibility to be traded, I mean obviously with any person or any guy in this profession it would kind of hurt a little bit,” Buckner said.
But under NFL salary cap constraints, Buckner said, “… at the same time you can’t take it personal because it’s the business of the game. It’s the business we chose. The only thing that I can control is my attitude moving forward and I’m just blessed to have this opportunity. The fact that this organization is willing to believe in me and bring me in — feeling wanted and needed at a certain place — it feels good. I’m just excited to be able to show everyone what I can bring to the table.”
Even now, that he is “somebody” who has done “something,” Buckner remains intent on maintaining what has gotten him here.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
