Long-snapper Kyle Nelson, who will serve the final six games of a 10-game suspension, agreed to a four-year contract with the club, a league source told NBC Sports Bay Area.

The deal, first reported by Field Yates of ESPN, locks up Nelson through the 2022 season. Nelson is a seven-year NFL veteran who has handled the 49ers' snapping chores on field goals, extra points and punts since 2014.

Nelson will be eligible to participate in all offseason and preseason practices. His suspension resumes at the start of the 2019 regular season.  The 49ers signed Colin Holba to handle the long-snapping chores in place of Nelson for the final four games of last season.

Hearing there’s a mechanism in long-snapper Kyle Nelson’s contract that enables the #49ers after six games to remain with Colin Holba without any financial impact if things are going well with their specialists and they don’t want to break up that chemistry.

— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) March 12, 2019

After his suspension last season, Nelson released the following statement through the team:

“I have been taking the same supplements for my entire time with the 49ers, while undergoing often simultaneous testing by the NFL with no issues. I do not deviate from my nutrition routine, and I would never knowingly take a banned substance. I am currently having the supplements tested, and I hope to uncover the cause of the positive test.

"When the product is identified, I fully intend to seek legal action against the manufacturer to protect against this happening to other players in the future.”

Nelson's previous NFL suspension came on Oct. 21, 2011, his rookie year, NBC Sports Bay Area's Jennifer Lee Chan reported.

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Kicker Robbie Gould was designated as the 49ers' franchise player. He has yet to sign his one-year, $4.9 million deal. Punter Bradley Pinion is an unrestricted free agent.

While Solomon Thomas is determined to prove he is worthy of his lofty draft status of two years ago, he is under no pressure to do it alone.

The 49ers’ defensive line is stacked with five players who entered the league as recent first-round draft picks.

Only Dee Ford, chosen No. 23 overall by the Kansas City in 2014, is on his second NFL contract. The 49ers acquired him in a trade for a second-round pick in 2020 after the Chiefs designated him as their franchise player.

Ford, 28, has registered double-digit sacks in two of the past three seasons, include a career-best 13 last season. DeForest Buckner, the No. 7 overall pick of the 49ers in 2016, earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl after a career-high 12 sacks.

Thomas, Buckner, Arik Armstead, chosen No. 17 overall in 2015, and recent No. 2 overall pick Nick Bosa give the 49ers depth, as well as plenty of hope the defensive line can emerge as the clear strength of the team.

“Yeah, and we kind of love it,” Thomas said of the expectations for the season. “We’re excited for this year. We have some great players. Picked up a great player, a great kid, Nick Bosa. I love working with Nick so far. And Dee Ford has been a great leader. He’s a great player. He’s got one of the best first steps in football. It’s insane.”

Armstead had a strong season as a run defender and is looking to improve dramatically on his three sacks last season. Thomas admittedly struggled on the field in 2018 while trying to cope with the death of his sister, Ella, shortly after the conclusion of his rookie season.

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The 49ers’ defensive line figures to consist of a rotation of those five players, along with Ronald Blair on nickel downs and nose tackle D.J. Jones in the base defense.

Ford and Bosa are strictly edge players, while Buckner is exclusively a defensive tackle. Armstead and Thomas are considered defensive end in base situations and inside pass-rushers on nickel downs.

“We’re excited,” Thomas said. “It’s going to be a fun year. We have great guys. Everyone in the room has a chance to contribute and be great and make this a great and fun year and a dominating year. That’s our goal, and that’s what we’re trying to do every day.”

SANTA CLARA – Unlike a year ago, there is competition inside the 49ers’ quarterbacks meeting room.

Jimmy Garoppolo’s spot is set as the starter, but Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard are competing for the backup job. Wilton Speight joined the three returners when he signed as an undrafted rookie from UCLA.

“It’s a good group,” Garoppolo said. “We all help each other out, especially in-between reps. You come to the sideline and coach might be busy looking at whoever’s in there, and you can talk to each other about it, just what they saw and if you mess something up, how you can fix it, things like that.”

Mullens finished last season on an impressive eight-game run. He completed 64.2 percent of his pass attempts with 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions for a passer rating of 90.9.

His 2,277 yards passing are the fourth most in NFL history for a quarterback in his first eight starts, ranking behind only Patrick Mahomes, Andrew Luck and Cam Newton.

As well as Mullens played, his spot is not assured this year.

The 49ers still have a high opinion of C.J. Beathard, a third-round pick in 2017 who took over after Garoppolo’s injury last season. Beathard entered both of his first two seasons in the NFL as the team's unquestioned No. 2.

Beathard completed 60.4 percent of his passes last season with eight touchdowns and seven interceptions and an 81.8 passer rating. Beathard started five games – all 49ers losses – and his confidence appeared to take a beating as he absorbed one hit after and other and was sacked 18 times in 187 dropbacks.

On a short week, coach Kyle Shanahan went with Mullens against the Raiders in Week 9. Mullens had a near-perfect game and never gave Shanahan a reason to make a change back to Beathard.

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Mullens and Beathard are expected to split the 11-on-11 practice snaps during the offseason program while Garoppolo is relegated to just 7-on-7 drills. The competition for the backup role will intensify in training camp.

“It’s a good group of guys and a very competitive group of guys, which makes us all better,” Garoppolo said.