You won’t find many players who left a team with greater appreciation from the fanbase than Thomas Morstead, and not many of them would be punters. The longtime New Orleans Saints specialist embraced the city, making himself and his family a part of the community — and proving to be a reliable asset on the field whenever the team called his number.
But even good things come to an end. These days Morstead has found himself hitched to the New York Jets’ Super Bowl-or-bust campaign, and he isn’t taking his 15-year NFL career for granted.
“God blessed me with some long legs,” Morstead told Jets Wire managing editor Billy Riccette, “I guess I walked into a casino with 10 bucks and, and have, you know, come out with millions. You know, it’s like, just an awesome dream ride.”
Morstead jump-started his career with a Super Bowl win on the Saints’ legendary 2009 squad, earning his own spot in franchise history with the iconic “Ambush” onside kick coming out of halftime. That he went on to earn Pro Bowl and All-Pro recognition while appearing in 205 games with the Saints (190 regular season, 15 playoffs) is remarkable. That he capped it off by training his own replacement, Blake Gillikin, before moving on to continue his career is laudable.
He’s hoping to lean on that experience now as the Jets go all-in on a Super Bowl run of their own. Morstead isn’t the oldest player on their team (he’s 37; Aaron Rodgers turns 40 in December) but he does feel the generation gap with his younger teammates, and he’s making the most of the opportunity to share these moments with his family. When his children were younger, they didn’t know much about his job besides it taking him away from home all the time. Now he’s involving them as much as he can.
Morstead continued, “And, you know, I think I’ve always had pretty strong whys to take out the making good money and having an awesome career experience, I think I’ve had a really strong set of whys as to what kept me going, you know, my kids are old enough, they kind of know what’s going on now. So it’s really cool to be playing, and having experiences with them, where they get to be a part of it. You know, stuff that not a lot of guys get a chance to do.”
You can read Riccette’s full interview with Morstead here as he discusses his NFL experiences, why he went to the Jets this season, and what he hopes to accomplish in the fall. So long as he isn’t playing against the Saints, we’ll be rooting for him. Hopefully he can return home some day and retire in black and gold.
