When they locked him up to a three-year extension last week, the 49ers made Daniel Kilgore one of the first members of the 2011 draft class to receive a second contract, and seemingly signaled that he’ll be the team’s new starting center. However, in his latest piece for the San Francisco Chronicle, Eric Branch explains why he thinks the Niners might bring in a free agent center to compete with Kilgore for the job. Here’s more out of the NFC West:
- The 49ers and cornerback Tarell Brown are still talking as the start of the free agency period looms, writes Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee. The 29-year-old unknowingly forfeited a $2MM workout bonus by training at home instead of Santa Clara last season and suffered a rib injury in November that caused him to miss three games, allowing Tramaine Brock to take over as the starter. Brown, however, started all three of the 49ers’ playoff games, showing that the club values him.
- John Carlson, who was released by the Vikings yesterday, hasn’t wasted any time in looking for a new home. The free agent tight end is meeting with the Cardinals today, tweets Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic.
- There’s a strong market for free agent defensive tackle Red Bryant, who was released last week by the Seahawks, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. Rapoport believes that it’s likely that Bryant will land a deal before the start of the free agency period.
- In his latest Insider-only piece for ESPN.com, Mike Sando details five free agent fits he likes, including defensive tackle Earl Mitchell to the Seahawks.
Zach Links contributed to this post.