Punter Thomas Morstead finds a home with Jets

Thomas Morstead couldn’t help but get emotional after playing an integral part in the Jets’ win over the Giants last Sunday. It was a special moment for him, and he was reflecting on his journey.

Morstead had three of his 11 punts downed inside the 3-yard line. On a day the offense really struggled, many Jets teammates said Morstead was the game’s MVP. There was symbolism: The Jets had helped to lift Morstead when he was struggling.

“This is the first place where I felt like maybe I’m going to have a chance to carve myself an extended stay, potentially,” Morstead told Newsday. “I’m saying finding a home where I’m not just filling a hole for a short period of time. Who knows? That remains to be seen.

“It just feels really good having found a place that really wanted me and then I’m playing well and it’s helping us win and all those pieces that you don’t always get. It just kind of hit me all at once.”

Morstead, who is 37, was drafted by the Saints in 2009. He described his first 11 seasons with New Orleans as “smooth and awesome.”

Year 12 was not.

During those first 11 seasons, Morstead became the NFL’s highest-paid punter, was second-team All-Pro, made the Pro Bowl and helped the Saints win a Super Bowl. He executed a successful onside kick perfectly to open the second half of Super Bowl XLIV.

In his 12th season, his production declined. He had a back injury and a vision issue that worsened. Morstead doesn’t have stereo vision. He said he could never have played baseball because he “can’t track something that’s going super-fast,” and his stereo vision became worse when he hit his mid-30s.

All of that coupled with the Saints’ salary-cap situation led to New Orleans releasing him in 2021. “I just had a tough year for the first time,” Morstead said. “That was hard.”

Morstead couldn’t get any workouts. He said he didn’t get any calls from teams because of his game film from the previous season. He was concerned that his career was over.

“I feel like I’ll know when it’s time to be done,” he said. “I just knew I’m not close to that.”

Indeed, Morstead’s career wasn’t over. The Jets helped re-start it. They signed him in September 2021 after punter Braden Mann got injured.

Morstead spent seven games with the Jets. He averaged 48.2 yards per punt and was back to putting good stuff on tape.

The Jets released Morstead when Mann returned in November, and the Falcons signed him two weeks later. He won NFC special teams player of the week and of the month with Atlanta.

Morstead spent last season with Miami. He had the second-highest percentage of his punts downed inside the 20 (45.9) in his career.

Then he rejoined the Jets this season. He’s popular in the locker room with teammates of all ages and is a team leader.

He also has been “a weapon” for their defense, defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said. Morstead is averaging 48 yards per punt. He’s had eight downed inside the 10 and 15 inside the 15, helping pin offenses back for the Jets’ aggressive defense to feast upon.

“He is the best punter I have ever been around in my life, not just played with, but played against, too,” Ulbrich said. “The ability to pin teams at the 5-yard line on a consistent basis, we have that mindset that there is no offense in football that can go 95 yards on us. The fact that he can do that on a consistent basis is tremendous.”

The Jets’ offense is keeping Morstead busy. He already has punted 40 times after punting 43 times all season for the high-scoring Saints in 2018.

Last week, Morstead punted 11 times for 529 yards against the Giants. He was named AFC special teams player of the week.

“He had a hell of a game,” special teams coordinator Brant Boyer said. “That was a Pro Bowl performance, in my opinion, and he’s done that the entire season.”

The 6-4, 225-pound chiseled Morstead is not built like most punters. He attributes his late-career success to his workout routine and his love for training. C.J. Mosley said that outside of coach Robert Saleh, Morstead’s full physique might be the best on the team. “Abs,” Mosley said, “Six pack. Jacked up. Doing handstands in the weight room.”

You read that right. Morstead is always doing handstands, time-under-tension workouts, hanging exercises.

“I’m a gym rat,” he said. “I’m uniquely talented in the weight room. I live in there. That’s why I’m still playing at a high level.”

Morstead said he can’t do handstand push-ups yet — yet. But he is working on it and said he will be able to at some point because he’s added “gymnastics progressions” to his workouts.

This season and especially last week have been “a full-circle moment” for Morstead. He’s appreciating this time even more because he thought it was over a few years ago.

“It’s impossible not to,” he said. “It’s not that I was taking it for granted before, but I think it’s impossible to have the same perspective, especially if you really love it, which sometimes you don’t know how much you love it until it’s gone.”

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.