Marc Flemming
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Registered: Jan 2003
Local time: 01:01 PM
Location: Santa Cruz
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Having strongly hinted for two weeks that kicker Jeff Chandler did not enjoy much job security, the San Francisco 49ers turned the rumors into reality on Tuesday, waiving the second-year veteran and replacing him with journeyman Owen Pochman.
The team had not yet made an official announcement as of early Tuesday evening. But the release of Chandler appeared on the league's internal waiver wire, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN.com, and a source close to Pochman confirmed that he had been signed to a contract.
The source declined to offer details of the contract.
It was hardly a secret that the new 49ers staff was less than enamored with Chandler, who was a fourth-round choice in the 2002 draft and got a three-year contract that included a $330,000 signing bonus and minimum base salaries. In the week preceding the regular-season opener, San Francisco coaches auditioned veteran free agent Todd Peterson.
On Tuesday, the 49ers brought in Pochman and fellow free agent Brett Conway, recently released by Indianapolis, and opted for the former of the two.
A former University of Florida star, Chandler assumed the full-time kicking chores last year, 10 games into the season, when the 49ers jettisoned incumbent Jose Cortez. In six games, Chandler converted eight of 12 field goal attempts and all 14 extra point tries.
In the first two games of this season, he made six of seven field goal attempts and seven of eight extra points. But his longest field goal was of 35 yards, he had a miss on Sunday from only 43 yards, and the staff did not have faith in him. Chandler also had missed an extra point in the 49ers' season opener.
By signing Pochman, the 49ers settled on the least experienced of the three known kicker candidates they worked out.
Pochman, 26, was a seventh-round choice of the New England Patriots in 2001 but has tried just two field goals. He has bounced around with the Patriots, the New York Giants, Green Bay and St. Louis. His only two field goal attempts, both missed from beyond 50 yards, came with the Giants in 2001.
He went to camp last season with the Giants as the projected starter, then suffered a knee injury and spent the entire season on injured reserve.
Source: ESPN
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09-17-2003 07:43 PM
