TRADE: Panthers Trade K Zane Gonzalez To 49ers

The Carolina Panthers have traded K Zane Gonzalez to the 49ers on Friday, according to Mike McCartney. 

The 49ers have confirmed the news and announced that the two teams are exchanging late-round picks. 

Carolina recently signed K Eddy Pineiro, and it wasn’t long after before it was reported that Gonzalez was being released. 

Although, it appears as though the 49ers stepped up to get a deal done for the kicker. 

San Francisco will need to replace veteran K Robbie Gould this offseason. 

Gonzalez, 27, is a former seventh-round pick of the Browns back in 2017. He was in the second year of his four-year, $2.48 million contract and set to make a base salary of $555,000 in 2018 when the Browns waived him a few weeks into the regular season.

The Cardinals later signed Gonzalez to their practice squad before promoting him to their active roster during the 2018 season. Arizona brought him back on a one-year restricted tender in 2020 worth $3.27 million.

Gonzalez was testing the market as an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career back in 2021 when he signed a one-year deal with the Lions. Detroit cut him coming out of the preseason, though, and re-signed him to the practice squad. Carolina signed him away to their active roster. 

Carolina signed Gonzalez to a two-year extension at the start of last offseason.

In 2021, Gonzalez appeared in 12 games for the Panthers and converted 20 of 22 field-goal attempts (90.9 percent) to go along with 22 of 23 extra-point tries (95.7 percent).