DeForest Buckner opens up about the 'dark thoughts' he faced after neck surgery
The Colts defensive tackle missed seven of the final eight games of 2025 with a herniated disc in his neck. He says the hardest part of recovery was not the rehab but the quiet stretch when he wondered whether football was over.
DeForest Buckner has been the heart and soul of the Colts defense for years, a three-time Pro Bowl tackle who rarely came off the field. So when a herniated disc in his neck cost him seven of Indianapolis' final eight games in 2025 and led to surgery, the silence that followed hit him harder than he expected. 'I found myself in some deep, dark thoughts about what am I going to do?' he said. He is speaking about that stretch now, in the spring of his recovery, because he thinks it matters that people hear it.
What did Buckner go through after the surgery?
The injury was a herniated disc pressing against a nerve, and it ended his 2025 season early. Before settling on surgery, Buckner tried rest and a round of stem cell therapy at a clinic in Panama, hoping to avoid the operating table. When those did not hold, surgery became the path forward. The early weeks afterward were stark. 'The first couple of weeks, you can't really do much,' he said. 'I mean, I couldn't even pick up my own kids for a little bit.' It was in that confined, helpless window that the darker questions crept in about whether the game he had built his life around might be taken away.
How did he work through it?
Buckner did not try to carry it alone. He leaned on the people closest to him and talked through the emotions rather than burying them. 'Just talking through all those emotions,' he said of those conversations, which became a steady anchor when the future felt uncertain. The physical rehabilitation began to take shape in April, and as he started running again the mental fog began to lift alongside the body. There is something plain and honest in how he frames it. The recovery was never only about the neck. It was about deciding, day by day, that he still wanted to keep going.
Where do things stand for him and the Colts now?
Buckner is in the final year of his contract, set to earn $23 million after signing an extension in 2024, and he has made clear how much a winning season in Indianapolis would mean to him. 'It would mean a lot to win here,' he said. He is targeting the September 13 season opener against the Baltimore Ravens for his return. For a defense that has long run through him, getting Buckner back near his old form is significant. But the part he chose to share, the dark thoughts and the long talks that pulled him out, is the kind of openness that tends to reach further than any stat line.
Players in this story
Sources
- ESPN: How Colts DT DeForest Buckner handled 'dark thoughts' postsurgery
Indianapolis Colts betting odds
Super Bowl futures, win totals & where to bet
21+ and present in a state where legal. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. We may earn a commission.
