Andy Lee traded

So spend a 5th on a punter and then trade your proven punter for a 7th. Yay great gm work.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
Don't know why anyone is surprised. Almost everyone saw this coming. Lee has been one of the greatest punters in the last decade, but he declined last season and they drafted a guy in the 5th -- you simply don't do that with a PUNTER if the incumbent is going to return. Pinion has just as booming of a leg, and apparently is incredibly accurate. He also brings more value in terms kickoff contribution. That's something Lee just can't do.

Shane Lechler was an amazing punter for the Raiders, but even he eventually declined. They let him go and he wasn't the same with his new team. Lee wasn't going to be around forever. We shouldn't be upset about this. This saves us cap space and gives out STs KO unit a lot of help.

Lee's net punting average since 2011.


2011-44.6

2012-43.2

2013-41.7

2014-39.6



It doesn't matter if a punter has a strong leg if they out kick their coverage and make it easier for the other team to return. Pinion right off the bat should have better hang time on his kicks.

We're trusting a rookie to handle punts before he's even taken one real snap.

Baalke is unreal.

Never got to see the knuckle punt

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
We're trusting a rookie to handle punts before he's even taken one real snap.

Baalke is unreal.

Vikings did the same thing when dumping Kluwe. You take an older, more expensive guy who has been regressing and replace them with someone younger. Obviously they are sold on Pinion, particularly the new special teams coach.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by Young2Rice:

We're trusting a rookie to handle punts before he's even taken one real snap.

Baalke is unreal.

Vikings did the same thing when dumping Kluwe. You take an older, more expensive guy who has been regressing and replace them with someone younger. Obviously they are sold on Pinion, particularly the new special teams coach.

Not sure how they can be sold on a guy who never played a snap

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

OMG the 49ers didn't get back a 1st round pick for a 32 year old punter that was going to get cut otherwise, RAAAGGEEEEE!!!!!

I was really hoping we were gonna trade him to KC for Justin Houston straight up.

Originally posted by ModestoNiner33:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
OMG the 49ers didn't get back a 1st round pick for a 32 year old punter that was going to get cut otherwise, RAAAGGEEEEE!!!!!

I was really hoping we were gonna trade him to KC for Justin Houston straight up.

This.
Andy Lee is rated around a 92 on madden and Justin Houston is rated about a 93-94
I'd bet that if we threw in a 7th we could have gotten him.

Baalke needs to get fired

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
Not sure how they can be sold on a guy who never played a snap

Because punting and kicking are two of the things that most readily translate to the NFL. I'm sure the 49ers will bring in additional punters to compete but Lee was done as a 49er on the basis of his salary and declining performance.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Don't know why anyone is surprised. Almost everyone saw this coming. Lee has been one of the greatest punters in the last decade, but he declined last season and they drafted a guy in the 5th -- you simply don't do that with a PUNTER if the incumbent is going to return. Pinion has just as booming of a leg, and apparently is incredibly accurate. He also brings more value in terms kickoff contribution. That's something Lee just can't do.

Shane Lechler was an amazing punter for the Raiders, but even he eventually declined. They let him go and he wasn't the same with his new team. Lee wasn't going to be around forever. We shouldn't be upset about this. This saves us cap space and gives out STs KO unit a lot of help.

Lee's net punting average since 2011.


2011-44.6

2012-43.2

2013-41.7

2014-39.6



It doesn't matter if a punter has a strong leg if they out kick their coverage and make it easier for the other team to return. Pinion right off the bat should have better hang time on his kicks.

Exactly, the hang time of 5+ seconds is unreal. Doesn't matter if it only goes 45 instead of 60+ in those cases. By the time the punter kicks the ball, guys are already about 10 yards downfield. With 5.1 second hang time, there's nowhere for a returner to go by the time the ball gets to him. I see us earning a lot of fair catch calls and/or being in great position to recover muffed punts.

Absolutely loved Andy Lee, but people need to not be short-sighted about this. In the long run, this should be a good move. It's better than getting nothing for him if we cut him. Again, saves cap space, and gives us another element we didn't have, which was the consistent ability to kick the ball out of the endzone on kickoffs.

Wait, so Pinion already won the open competition at punter during OTAs with no one actually competing against him. It's things like this that players like A.D. and other veterans look at thinking "how did the operation of this team get so f***ed up?" This punter transaction isn't specifically the reason he or anyone else would retire or want to leave but it has to be among some other stupid things a contributing factor. In this case Baalke is talking out both sides of his mouth because he claims the punter job was an open competition and clearly stated Pinion had the opportunity to win the job but that's really not true if Lee wasn't around to defend his position. It makes him a liar to be perfectly honest. Not saying all the players feel this way but it's easy to see why guys like Gore and Crabtree lost faith in team management. P.S. Trading Lee was obviously a salary cap move but Baalke must've jizzed when he saw the ridiculous hang time of the rookie punter.

Does anyone know how much cap space we have now with Anthony Davis and Andy Lee gone?

A punter traded!!! Now I've seen it all......how the heck did they do that, you are not allowed to trade kickers and punters in Madden.

Originally posted by ninerjok:

Wait, so Pinion already won the open competition at punter during OTAs with no one actually competing against him. It's things like this that players like A.D. and other veterans look at thinking "how did the operation of this team get so f***ed up?" This punter transaction isn't specifically the reason he or anyone else would retire or want to leave but it has to be among some other stupid things a contributing factor. In this case Baalke is talking out both sides of his mouth because he claims the punter job was an open competition and clearly stated Pinion had the opportunity to win the job but that's really not true if Lee wasn't around to defend his position. It makes him a liar to be perfectly honest. Not saying all the players feel this way but it's easy to see why guys like Gore and Crabtree lost faith in team management.

Another delusional one here