Marcus Martin doing some work with 49ers great Jesse Sapolu

The San Francisco 49ers have to be pleased with this. Former 49ers center Jesse Sapolu posted the status update below on Facebook. Apparently he took some time to visit with current 49ers center Marcus Martin. The 49ers drafted Martin in the third round of the 2014 draft, and following Daniel Kilgore's leg injury, Martin was inserted into the starting lineup.

Martin had a some solid moments as a rookie, but there was a lot of inconsistency. Fortunately, given that it was only his rookie season, it provided a significant learning opportunity. And taking some time to learn from a great like Sapolu provides some proof that he "gets it" and is looking to improve. He did not need to visit with Sapolu for that to be the case, but it is always great seeing examples like this.

The 49ers will likely have Martin competing with Kilgore for the starting center job over the coming months. It is too early to tell exactly where Kilgore stands in his recovery. My guess is he is limited throughout the offseason workout program, but that really is nothing more than a guess. We don't know how similar (or not) his injury is compared to Ian Williams's injury in 2013. If Kilgore is fine going into training camp, it will be a fascinating competition, with the loser potentially in the mix for the left guard position if Mike Iupati departs in free agency. If Kilgore is not 100 percent heading into training camp, the job is Martin's for the taking.