Niners Keep Punter by Matching Steelers' Offer Sheet

The San Francisco 49ers retained punter Andy Lee by matching an offer sheet he'd signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers as a restricted free agent.

Lee was the first restricted free agent to sign an offer sheet with another team this offseason.

The offer matched by the 49ers was for $7.1 million over six seasons, including a $1.66 million signing bonus.

The Steelers apparently did not include the sort of "poison pill" provision that could have made the contract guaranteed under certain circumstances and dissuaded the 49ers from matching the offer. Such tactics produced a nasty player-acquisition tussle between the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks last offseason and were decried by others in the league, but league and Players Association officials failed to reach an agreement on banning them.

The 49ers would have received a sixth-round draft pick from the Steelers as compensation if they'd allowed Lee to go to Pittsburgh.

By Mark Maske |  March 8, 2007; 9:30 PM ET  | Category:  49ers , Steelers
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