The San Francisco 49ers injury woes continue. Center Daniel Kilgore has been placed on injured reserve after injuring his knee in Week 14 against the New York Jets. The team promoted offensive lineman Alex Balducci from the practice squad, and signed offensive tackle Mitchell Van Dyk to the practice squad
Kilgore left the game after ten snaps, and was seen with a compression sleeve around his whole leg. Marcus Martin took over at center for the remainder of the game, and is likely going to be starting at center these final three games. Martin started the game at left guard because Zane Beadles had moved to left tackle to replace Joe Staley. Staley was inactive due to a hamstring injury suffered last Wednesday. Once Martin moved from left guard to center, Andrew Tiller moved in at left guard.
The most intriguing aspect of this could be the promotion of Balducci. I’m not getting my hopes up because he is likely going to just be the team’s backup interior lineman, but it is intriguing nonetheless. He signed as an undrafted free agent and converted from defensive lineman to offensive lineman. There were numerous reports about how quickly he was taking to the offensive line. Maybe he gets a chance to show what he can do before the season ends.