Yesterday we learned that the 49ers had come to terms on a six year contract extension with punter Andy Lee. Initial speculation expected a deal in the $4 million a year range, which would put Lee in the same neighborhood as fellow All-Pro punter Shane Lechler.

If the reports coming out now are true, it turns out that is not necessarily the case. Matt Maiocco tweeted out last night that a source indicated Lee's six year extension is worth $20.5 million, with $7.1 million coming in the first two seasons. That comes out to approximately $3.42 million per year.

There have been some comments that Lee is taking a hometown discount. Given what he might have scored on the open market this might be true. At the same time, I'm curious how Shane Lechler's $4M a year deal is viewed by the rest of the league. In negotiating with Lee, did the negotiations between Trent Baalke/Paraag Marathe and Lee's agent broach the idea that Lechler's contract was an outlier among punters? It obviously impacted the deal Lee got since punters don't frequently get $3M+ per year deals. But, it makes me wonder if the sides recognized the outlier nature of the Al Davis-led Lechler deal.

We don't have any further details on things like signing bonus and the like, so no word on the full future salary cap implications of Lee's deal.