49ers strike pricey deal with kicker Eddy Piñeiro to keep him off market

SANTA CLARA – Eddy Piñeiro’s encore as the 49ers’ kicker is coming with a reported $10 million guaranteed.

Piñeiro has agreed to a four-year, $17 million deal, a league source confirmed. That deal keeps him off the free agent market, which is where the 49ers found him in Week 2 last season.

The 49ers have 19 players slated for unrestricted free agency entering Monday’s 9 a.m. start of contract talks with others.

Piñeiro, 30, stabilized the 49ers’ kicking game after inconsistency from 2023 third-round pick Jake Moody, who Friday agreed to re-sign with the Washington Commanders on a one-year deal.

Piñeiro’s contract was first reported by NFL Network by way of Drew Rosenhaus, who is also the agent for the 49ers’ top pending free agent, wide receiver Jauan Jennings.

Of the 29 field goals that Piñeiro attempted last season, he made all except a 64-yard attempt that hit the crossbar in Indianapolis as the first-half expired in the 49ers’ victorious December visit. He otherwise made all six other attempts beyond 50 yards, including a 59-yarder (Week 5, at Los Angeles Rams) that was the second-longest in 49ers history.

Piñeiro did miss four of 38 point-after attempts, but he became a team-wide favorite early in his tenure, which included a walk-off winning field goal in the home opener against Arizona.

Piñeiro’s deal comes in the wake of other interesting NFL news: the Dolphins, in his native Miami, are expected to release standout kicker Jason Sanders; and, the Dallas Cowboys are placing a second-round, $5.8 million tender on kicker Brandon Aubrey.

Originally signed by the then-Oakland Raiders in 2018 as an undrafted free agent, Piñeiro went on to have stints with the Chicago Bears, the Indianapolis Colts, the New York Jets and the Carolina Panthers, before answering the 49ers’ call last September.