By rule, Kilgore was forced to leave the game for one play. That would be the only snap the center missed all season. Kilgore started all 16 games in 2017 after his previous three campaigns were all cut short due to injury.

He didn't consider himself to be "injury prone", but rather unlucky. Injury is an inherent risk when playing the game of football. However, that was just semantics to John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan and San Francisco's new regime. The fact remained that Kilgore hadn't made it through a full 16-game season since 2013.

"It was a huge goal of mine," Kilgore said. "I had that stigma from the front office and coaching staff – wanting to see if I could last a whole season. Personally, knowing that I could and finally doing it, was a huge sigh of relief."

His clean bill of health was undoubtedly a contributing factor to his three-year contract extension that he signed on Wednesday. Kilgore has spent his first seven NFL seasons with the 49ers since being taken in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. Now he'll have a chance at wearing the red and gold for a full decade.

"It's exciting for sure," Kilgore said. "To continue playing for San Francisco was huge for me. To be able to start my career there and hopefully be there for 10 consecutive years is a huge honor. It's an honor to wear this jersey.

"The friends I've made on the team and in the Bay Area – we didn't want to lose that. (My wife and I) love the Bay Area and consider it our second home."