When the news broke this morning that David Baas of the San Francisco 49ers ould be joining the New York Giants to take over at center I reached out to our friends over at SB Nation's 49ers website, Niners Nation, for their perspective on the deal.
David Fucillo, editor of Niners Nation, sent back this response via e-mail:
Baas was the 49ers starting center last season after Eric Heitmann went down with a leg and neck injury early in training camp. Prior to that, Baas had not played center since college. He was originally drafted as a guard and had sort of lingered somewhere between backup and average starter. As a center he had his struggles with some of the shotgun snaps but he seemed to develop as the season went along. He was generally a solid blocker and seemed to work well as the leader of the offensive live.
Considering he has one year of center play under his belt it's hard to say for sure what his developmental track is like. The 49ers had expressed interest in re-signing him but it's tough to tell how much Jim Harbaugh and GM Trent Baalke liked of what they saw from last year's tape.
At Niners Nation, Fucillo expanded on what this means for the 49ers:
To quote Scooby-Doo: Ruh-roh Shaggy. A league source has informed Matt Barrows that David Baas has agreed to terms on a new contract with the New York Giants. Considering Eric Heitmann won't be playing this year, the 49ers find themselves without much of any experience at the center position. This is alarming to say the least.
The more I read, the more I like. This could turn out to be an excellent, under-the-radar signing by GM Jerry Reese.