Considering what kind of contract Daniel Kilgore might find

The San Francisco 49ers announced on Wednesday they signed center Daniel Kilgore to a three-year contract extension. He was due to hit free agency in March, but the 49ers have decided to continue building with him in the middle of the offensive line.

We are still awaiting details on the contract, but I was actually planning on posting this hypothetical before this news broke. Last week, I took a look at a hypothetical contract for pending free agent Carlos Hyde. Now that Kilgore is signed, I thought I’d take a crack at what kind of deal he might have signed. The 49ers interior offensive line struggled in 2017, and center is critical to Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Kilgore started all 16 games this past season, which marked his first full healthy season as a starter.

The center market is Ied by Weston Richburg and Ryan Jensen, but I see Daniel Kilgore among the top five best available centers. That group would also include Wesley Johnson and Senio Kelemete. With that in mind, I see this deal netting Kilgore somewhere in the range of $3 million to $4 million per year.

The decision on whether to bring Kilgore back will depend in part on what the other centers above will command when the market opens. I see Jensen and Richburg commanding at least $6 million to $8 million per year, if not more. There is a lack of real center depth in free agency this year.

As always I will be using Over The Cap for contract terms, so click on each link to see their OTC breakdown.

Ben Jones

Signed a four-year contract worth $17.5 million ($4.375M APY) with the Titans in March 2016. He received $7.5 million fully guaranteed, including a $3.5 million signing bonus. He received a $500,000 roster bonus in 2016.

David Andrews

Signed a three-year contract extension worth $9 million ($3M APY) with the Patriots in May 2017. He received $1.6 million fully guaranteed, all of which was a signing bonus. His deal includes $1.5 million in roster bonuses spread over four years (the extension was tacked on to the final year of his previous contract).

Joe Hawley

Signed a two-year contract worth $5.5 million ($2.75M APY) with the Buccaneers in March 2017. He $1.25 million fully guaranteed, with a $250,000 signing bonus, and $1 million of his 2017 base salary fully guaranteed. He also received a $1 million roster bonus in 2017.

Daniel Kilgore

I suspect this contract comes in somewhere between Jones and Andrews on APY. In terms of guaranteed money, I see him ending up with more than Andrews, but less than Jones. You could also expect to see Kilgore receive similar workout bonuses and per-game roster bonuses as in his previous contract. Kilgore signed a three-year extension in 2014 that included $200,000 in roster bonuses and $50,000 in workout bonuses each of the last two seasons

I can also see the 49ers doing something similar to what Cassius Marsh received. The defensive end received $3.1 million fully guaranteed, which included a $1.1 million 2018 base salary and a $2 million roster bonus. The second year of his contract is effectively a team option. With Kilgore’s deal, the break-up of this between either one year plus two options, or two years plus one option will be something to track.

As always you can follow me on Twitter, @Jay_AB81, or check our salary cap section here, on Niners Nation, which is now officially the exclusive home for my salary cap information.