By all accounts, Jets punter Thomas Morstead is beloved and respected by his teammates.
When you look at what he has achieved in his career, there are very few Jets who have been as good for as long as Morstead.
With that being said, for the 2024 Jets to be successful, they need to see much less of Morstead than they did in 2023 when he punted 99 times, the most in the NFL last season and tied for the most in Jets history.
There were times last year when the Jets’ best hope of scoring was for Morstead to punt it inside the 5-yard line and hope the defense could get a safety. It is nice to have a good punter, but it’s not great when you are counting on him as a scoring option.
Everyone expects the Jets offense to be much better this season. With a healthy Aaron Rodgers at quarterback surrounded by Garrett Wilson, Breece Hall and Mike Williams and behind a rebuilt offensive line, the offense should be explosive.
There will be plenty of ways to measure that success.
One will be if Morstead is standing on the sideline a lot.
“We love Thomas, but we love Thomas watching football,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said Friday when presented with that premise.
Morstead, who is one of the friendliest NFL players you’ll ever meet, did not totally agree with the idea that the Jets would be better off with him in the Witness Protection Program.
“I don’t agree with that,” Morstead said. “I always tell the offensive guys if every drive ends in a special teams play, we’ll win every game. If we kick an extra point, field goal or punt and don’t turn it over, we’ll win every game.”
Morstead did acknowledge if he’s not approaching 100 punts this year, that will be a positive.
“Generally speaking, if we’re punting less, it’s probably a good thing,” Morstead said. “Aaron has traditionally been a record-setting touchdown-to-interception ratio guy. Obviously, if he is playing and healthy and doing that sort of efficiency, it will lead to us punting less, and that’s probably a good thing.”
Morstead may have been the most consistent player on the Jets last season. His 99 punts marked a career high — “By a lot,” he said correctly. His previous high was 74 with the Saints in 2012. For most of his career, Morstead has punted fewer than 60 times in a season. Having Drew Brees at quarterback helped.
Last year’s total of 99 was 15 shy of the record of 114, held by Bob Parsons of the 1981 Bears and Chad Stanley with the 2002 Texans. In one game — the famed Zach Wilson vs. Tommy DeVito showdown with the Giants — Morstead punted 11 times.
His best moment came against the Chiefs. The Jets were trailing, 17-0, early in the second quarter when Morstead delivered a 49-yard punt that pinned Kansas City at its 4-yard line. Three plays later, the Jets defense got a safety and the momentum of the game flipped.
“When you’re sputtering as a team and he pins them inside the 5-yard line and the defense comes away with a safety … it changed the Kansas City game,” Saleh said. “It flips the numbers so much. It sparked us.”
Morstead did it again the next week in Denver, pinning the Broncos inside their 5 and getting a safety. Punts like that earned him the respect and trust of his teammates.
“When you’re a player like me that punts and you have a defense that’s got special players and make special plays, it’s synergy,” Morstead said. “It highlights a little bit of what I do, a little bit of what our punt team does and how valuable that can be. It also highlights how good the defense is, but they have to be in those situations to begin with. Coach Saleh told me if the ball is at the 5 or inside, they’re thinking they’re scoring. That’s their mindset. They’re going for that. It’s cool. It’s cool to be valued.”
The Jets valued Morstead enough to re-sign him to a two-year contract in March that can be worth more than $5 million.
It is clear the Jets love having Morstead. They just need to see less of him on the field this year.