The Indianapolis Colts were able to land DeForest Buckner via trade in exchange for the No. 13 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. During a sit-down with the team's official website, Matt Eberflus — the defensive coordinator of the Colts — revealed how the Buckner trade came into fruition:

“When Chris (Ballard) and Frank (Reich) came to me first about DeForest, and they said, ‘Hey, we have a chance to get this young man here,' I went back and looked at a few games, in terms of the playoff games and all that, and my initial reaction was exactly what I thought when I watched him in some crossover games, is, ‘This guy is an impact player, and he plays at a high level and he certainly affects the football in positive way up front.' My answer was, ‘Yes. Go get this guy.' The question was posed to me, ‘Hey, if we get X player at 13, or this player at 13, or we could acquire DeForest…' we did some thinking on that, and the thought process was, ‘Hey, we got a known player here that we've seen play in the NFL that's young, that's played a lot of snaps, has done a great job in terms of impacting football games. If we can get him, let's go get him.'

With the No. 13 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Colts could have taken a rookie to bolster the interior defensive line. However, instead of taking a shot in the dark, Eberflus knew Buckner was a proven superstar with the San Francisco 49ers.

Therefore, when approached with the possible trade for Buckner, Eberflus was easily on board with the idea. The former first-round pick out of Oregon has amassed 28.5 sacks and 74 quarterback hits in his first four seasons in the NFL.

Nearly a week ago, Darius Leonard shared that he's excited to work alongside Buckner in 2020. Seeing how Eberflus reacted to possibly acquiring Buckner, Leonard isn't the only one excited to work with the standout interior defender next season.