The NFL Draft is this week, and the San Francisco 49ers will have a familiar face announce their second-round draft pick in Pittsburgh.
Former punter Andy Lee will announce the choice, which makes sense since he went to college at Pitt.
Lee was a great punter with the Niners and was their punter during those memorable years with Jim Harbaugh. In all, Lee spent 2004 to 2014 with San Francisco and made three Pro Bowls while with the team.
Three separate times with the 49ers -- in 2005, 2007, and 2009 -- he led the league in punts, which speaks to just how terrible some of those Niners teams were in the mid-to-late 2000s.
Lee had a big leg, though, and in 2011, he led the NFL when it came to average yards per punt with 50.9. He was voted first-team All-Pro that season, an honor he received in 2007 and 2012 as well.
He left the Niners after 2014, but his career was far from over. He played for the Cleveland Browns in 2015, the Carolina Panthers in 2016, and the Arizona Cardinals from 2017 until he retired in 2022.
He had a pretty tremendous career, and while Ray Guy is the only pure punter enshrined in the Canton, if punters were more widely recognized, then Lee would have a pretty decent case for the Hall of Fame, too.
San Francisco had a bit of a punter shakeup this offseason as it decided to move on from veteran Thomas Morstead and signed Corliss Waitman. There are rumors the Niners are interested in a punter ahead of the draft, so maybe they will draft another one. Lee was selected in the sixth round by San Francisco, and the 49ers selected Mitch Wishnowsky in the sixth round back in 2019. Bradley Pinion was taken in the fifth round in 2015.
If Lee ends up announcing that the 49ers have taken a punter with the No. 58 overall pick in the draft, however, then there would likely be a revolt in the Bay Area. After how badly the Jake Moody pick went and how controversial he became after the Niners selected him in the third round of 2023, it wouldn't be shocking if the 49ers don't draft another specialist for a long time.
It seems quite unlikely they will draft one this year, though. It will just be cool that a great former 49er will get to be part of the festivities.
Add us as a preferred source on Google