No. 1: Defensive Tackle DeForest Buckner

He isn’t underrated to any 49ers fan. But when looked at by a national perspective, one might see how third-year defensive tackle DeForest Buckner is, perhaps, among the most underrated players in the league today.

Buckner’s 90.4 overall grade ranked sixth among all interior defenders last season, according to Pro Football Focus. And yet Buckner, like Robbie Gould, was denied a Pro Bowl nod.

At least Buckner made PFF’s top-50 list, coming in at No. 43.

But Buckner didn’t make NFL Network’s top-100 list, which is another snub. One of the reasons why is Buckner didn’t rank too high in the traditional stats many would otherwise look at. He had just three sacks in 2017, which was down from the six his rookie season and didn’t even rank first on his own defense.

It didn’t help the Niners weren’t particularly good for most of last season either. Especially on defense.

Still, Buckner is San Francisco’s best player on that side of the ball. What he does, both against the run and pass, is about as disruptive as it gets. And if the 49ers were able to surround him with more talent — an effort they’ve made the last two seasons — one might see Buckner emerge from a relative unknown outside of Northern California and into a household name this season.