No NFL defensive lineman played more snaps last season than DeForest Buckner. In hindsight, Buckner said recently, that might not have been the best decision for the seventh-overall pick in his first season with the 49ers.

“There were times out there last year where I was dead tired and they wouldn’t take me out,” Buckner said. “I feel like I’m hurting the team more when I’m staying out there, not being able to live up to my full potential when I’m out there.”

The proof is in the results. San Francisco finished with the worst defense in the NFL and allowed the most yards rushing in team history. Buckner played 1,006 snaps even while missing a game early in the season with a foot injury.

Buckner said the only time he tapped his helmet to let his coaches know he could use a breather was in Arizona in November – but he stayed in the game. He never asked to come out again over the final seven weeks of the season. It meant playing in no fewer than 93 percent of the snaps, and every snap in three of those seven games to end the year.

But that figures to change in 2017 with new defensive line coach Jeff Zgnonina, who played 17 seasons at the position for the Rams, Texans, Dolphins, Steelers, Falcons, Panthers and Colts. Zgonina said he plans on rotating players in an out in order to maximize production along the defensive front.

“I’m a rotate a guy. If I’m allowed to rotate the guys as much as I want, I will do that,” Zgnoina said. “I told those guys, you give me four to five hard plays, full tilt, I’m going to rotate you. Because I believe in fresh bodies all the time.

“I don’t like to see a guy play over 1,000 snaps in a season like (Buckner) did last year, you know? Especially as a rookie. That’s a lot of snaps. That’s a lot of snaps for anybody, especially on defense. So I would hope everybody kind of balances out first string and second string. Everybody’s going to play. Whoever’s dressed on Sunday is going to play.”

The defensive line is one of the 49ers’ deepest position groups after using first-round picks in three straight drafts on the position. Before Buckner in 2015 was his college teammate Arik Armstead. This spring San Francisco tapped Stanford’s Solomon Thomas with the third-overall pick.

The overlap should allow San Francisco to rotate with regularity and not suffer much drop off. It should also help Armstead, who’s coming off surgery to repair a torn labrum that cut last season short, and Thomas, who’s learning the ropes while needing to get stronger as a rookie.

“If I’m going hard and the coach pulls me out for a play or two to catch my breath and get me back out there, so I can be more efficient, I’ll definitely take that,” Buckner said.

Buckner last season tied Ahmad Brooks for the team lead with six sacks. The rookie defensive tackle finished fourth on the club with 73 tackles and first with 18 quarterback hits. He’s worked as the three-technique defensive tackle on the weak side throughout the offseason program in the new 4-3 scheme.