Still aggressively pursuing upgrades to the roster, the 49ers and Baltimore Ravens executed a trade on Wednesday.
Per a team release from the Ravens:
Baltimore has traded center Jeremy Zuttah to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for moving up 12 picks in the sixth round of this year’s draft.
The Ravens get pick No. 186 from the 49ers and San Francisco takes Baltimore’s pick No. 198
Center is a massively important position in Kyle Shanahan’s offense. In the coach’s last three seasons, he’s had the luxury of Alex Mack in both Cleveland and Atlanta. Mack was given the opportunity to make calls and checks at the line, an essential element to Shanahan’s zone-blocking system which requires more communication between linemen.
Enter Zuttah. The 30-year-old started every game last year and made the Pro Bowl as an alternate. A third round pick in 2008 out of Rutgers, Zuttah finished the year graded by Pro Football Focus as the league’s 13th-best center. He’s started 117 games in his career.
Center had been a position Daniel Kilgore held down, but injuries have clouded his future. The 49ers placed him on injured reserve in December after a right knee injury. Kilgore missed large portions of both 2014 and the 2015 season.
“Kyle and I are firm believers that competition brings out the best in everyone,” said 49ers General Manager John Lynch. “We also believe that you can never have enough good offensive linemen, and Jeremy has certainly proven to be a very talented player having earned a Pro Bowl selection last season.”
The NFL Network was reporting the Ravens were set to release Zuttah earlier on Wednesday, which is odd considering he’s coming off of one of his best seasons. Nevertheless, the 49ers are welcoming him with open arms in a very fair trade of making back just 12 draft slots.
At the NFL Combine, Lynch said the position group he’s most content with was offensive line.
“I think one of the encouraging things, I think offensive lines are tough to build in this league, and you turn on the film and there’s a lot of exciting things to see with an offensive line,” said Lynch.
As of now, Joe Staley, Zane Beadles, Zuttah/Kilgore,Joshua Garnett and Trent Brown should be considered the top of the depth chart.
