The 49ers finally have a kicker. San Francisco Sending a conditional late pick to the Panthers In the 2025 draft for kicker Zane Gonzalez is NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero. Bellicero Gonzalez’s agent Mike McCartney originally announced the deal.
Gonzalez, 27, was a seventh-round pick by the Browns in the 2017 draft. He spent parts of two seasons in Cleveland before joining the Cardinals during the 2018 campaign. He was in Arizona until 2021 when he was landed with the Panthers.
Gonzalez got a quadruple injury during warmups before a pre-season game last year and ended up missing the entire season. Now he is healthy and on track to be ready for the start of this year.
This effectively ends any chance of a meeting with Robbie Gould, who before free agency began expressed interest in playing elsewhere in 2023. However, it doesn’t stop the 49ers from using one of their eleven picks on a kicker and holding the fight for the position. to ensure that Gonzalez did not suffer the long-term effects of missing a year due to injury.
In five seasons, Gonzalez played 63 matches. For his career, he earned 80.5 percent of his kicks and 94.8 percent of his extra points. In 2021, he hit 90.9 percent of his field goals for Carolina which is a career best.
There is a small anomaly in the line of Gonzalez’s career stats. He is 28-28 from 20-29 yards and 23-26 from 30-39 yards. From over 50 yards it is a respectable 11-18.
This 40-49 yard window was tough for him though. He’s 29-41 in his career, although he’s hit all 10 of his attempts from that distance in 2021.
Gonzalez also regularly handled kickoffs during his career, which was a job Gould did with the 49ers. Gonzalez has a career rebounding average of 57.8 percent, but he put up a career high of 63.6 percent in the 2021 season.
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