Jets punter Thomas Morstead has been to the Pro Bowl just once in his 15 NFL seasons. That was back in 2012, his fourth year in New Orleans. He would love for 2023 to be his second trip to the Pro Bowl and made his case on Twitter.
Yo Jets fans,
ProBowl voting is live on X(Twitter). Making the ProBowl is an incredible honor and experience. I’ve only been 1 time and that was 11 years ago. I know, I’m old 😂.
If you have appreciated my, and/or any of my teammates, contributions on the field this season, I… pic.twitter.com/u3yZoNMtq1— Thomas Morstead (@thomasmorstead) December 19, 2023
Morstead very much has a case to be selected for the Pro Bowl. At 37 years old, Morstead is having one of the best seasons of his career. He is averaging 49.4 yards per punt and he has punted an incredible 81 times this season, tied with Jamie Gillan of the Giants. Only his 2012 Pro Bowl has seen Morstead have a higher punting average (50.1) and Morstead has already punted seven more times this season than he did all of 2012.
Morstead is tied for 3rd in punts inside the 20 with 28 and has done a fantastic job of pinning opponents near their goal line. Morstead is a key reason the Jets have three safeties this season.
Morstead would also love to see his fellow specialists join him in Orlando this season. Morstead made a case for kicker Greg Zuerlein and long snapper Thomas Hennessy.
“Look, Greg has missed one kick all season and that was a 52-yarder of the uprights (Week 4 vs. Kansas City),” Morstead said about his kicker recently to Jets Wire. “He’s been huge.”
Zuerlein has converted 27 of his 28 field goal attempts and 10 of 11 extra points this season.
Like Morstead, Zuerlein has also been to the Pro Bowl just once, back in 2017 with the Rams. His 96.4% success rate this season would stand as a career-high. He was successful on 95% of his kicks (38 of 40) in his 2017 Pro Bowl season.
As far as Hennessy goes, Morstead notes that he has been with the Jets seven seasons and hasn’t made a Pro Bowl but made sure to note he has been a key reason for the success on special teams this season as well.
“I think it would be a really cool thing for him to get a chance to go,” Morstead said about Hennessy. “He’s been a huge part of our success. You don’t have kickers and punters that are operating at Pro Bowl levels if they don’t have a snapper that’s operating at a super high level.”
Hennessy is currently the longest-tenured member of the Jets, joining the team in 2017. He signed a four-year extension worth $4.4 million back in April, a deal that gave Hennessy the most guaranteed money ($1.27 million) for a long snapper in the NFL.
Hennessy’s snaps are a big reason why Morstead has been able to get punts off so easily and why Zuerlein has been near perfect in his field goal attempts this season. It would be quite the highlight, and make plenty of sense, if all three specialists wind up going to Orlando for the Pro Bowl.
