San Francisco 49ers, Anthony Davis agree to extension

The San Francisco 49ers had the league’s best offensive line last season, and a large part of that was thanks to the breakout of young right tackle Anthony Davis, who took advantage of Sebastian Vollmer‘s injuries down the stretch to earn the title of being the best right tackle in the NFL last season. After a subpar rookie season, it didn’t seem to me like Davis would reach the point where he would be arguably the game’s best RT. He always had upside, but he has shattered my expectations after his 2012 season. The play of young stars Mike Iupati and Davis (same draft class in 2010, as both were first-rounders tasked with rebuilding the 49ers offensive line) have been a major reason why the 49ers offensive line is formidable, and left tackle Joe Staley‘s return to form last season was also a big storyline.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Per a source close to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, the San Francisco 49ers and Anthony Davis have agreed to  a five-year extension that will keep the 23-year-old Rutgers alumn in San Francisco until the 2019 season. The extension is one that is well-deserve, and both sides were able to come to an agreement after much discussion.

It seems crazy to think that the Niners were once considering moving Anthony Davis inside to guard due to his struggles in pass protection, but Jim Harbaugh decided to stick with Davis at RT for another season. That paid off big time for the 49ers last season, so give credit to Harbaugh and the Niners organization for trusting Davis to play at tackle for another season.

The 49ers had $4 million in cap space before making this deal, so it will be very interesting to see the financial implications of this deal for the 49ers. We do know that Anthony Davis will be a member of the San Francisco 49ers organization for a very long time, and this was a great move for the Niners without the financial terms in mind. The 49ers, of course, will be hoping that the young talent responds well to this huge deal.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter for more NFL updates and analysis @SorianoJoe.