With just days before the San Francisco 49ers play their first preseason game of the 2017 season, the team made a surprise move and cut Pro Bowl offensive lineman Jeremy Zuttah. The 49ers obtained Zuttah via trade with the Baltimore Ravens on March 15, 2017.
Following today's practice, head coach Kyle Shanahan said that cutting Zuttah was a "tough decision."
"I think it says a lot about how (Daniel) Kilgore's been playing. He's done a real good job in practice at the center spot, really kind of grasping that with the ones," said Shanahan.
With only four preseason games, the 49ers must maximize playing time for particular players to allow coaches to evaluate each one for this year's roster.
"It just looked to us that we weren't going to give Zuttah a lot of playing time throughout the preseason," continued Shanahan. "He's a guy I have a lot of respect for. He's done a lot of good things in this league. I told him this morning, I had a hard time doing that to him. We wanted to give him a chance to go somewhere else instead of keeping him here and making him go through that."
The 49ers released Zuttah to sign linebacker Sean Porter to a one-year deal.
Porter (6-1, 242) was originally drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fourth round (118th overall) of the 2013 NFL Draft. He missed his rookie season due to injury but appeared in one game with Cincinnati in 2014. In 2015, he began the season on the Physically Unable to Perform list and was waived on November 30, 2015.
The Jacksonville Jaguars signed Porter on December 7, 2015 to their practice squad. In 2016, Porter remained on the practice squad and was later promoted to the active roster. He saw action in two games with the Jaguars. The team released him on May 1, 2017.