The Saints are cutting a long-time member of the team. New Orleans has released punter Thomas Morstead, Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football confirmed (Twitter link). The news was first reported by Nader Mirfiq (on Twitter).
The move frees up about $2.5MM in cap space. The team unusually kept UDFA rookie Blake Gillikin on the active roster at the beginning of last year before placing him on injured reserve, perhaps signaling they viewed him as the punter of the future. Morstead was more than just the team’s punter, he was also a leader in the locker room and fan favorite due to his long tenure and consistent performance.
Drafted by the Saints in the fifth-round all the way back in 2009, he’s been with them for the past 12 seasons. He’s never missed a game during that span, and he won Super Bowl XLIV with the team. Still only 34, he should have plenty left in the tank physically and should be able to find a new home.
The highest-paid punter in the game for a while, Morstead made the Pro Bowl in 2012 and was also a second-team All-Pro that year. On a zoom call with the media shortly after the news broke, Morstead confirmed he plans to play elsewhere and said last year’s drop in production was due to lingering injuries, Underhill tweets.
He also thanked the fans and Saints, saying “I’m overwhelmed with gratitude and thanks. … My whole experience with the organization has been outstanding,” via another tweet from Underhill.
I would say draft Ryan stonehouse
Or stick with Gillikin
damn, gonna miss Morstead, hopefully Gillikin can do well
All UDFA sign the same three year contract. With a base salaries are $610K, $780K and $895K per season. So $780k beats $3.2M in 2021.
Saints have a L——O—–N—–G way to go BEFORE they resolve their salary cap issues. It’s going to take a whole lot more than these recent ticky-tacky player releases to get there.
Next up is Micheal Thomas and Alvin Kamara.
Thomas should probably go first, but I doubt that’ll happen for some reason…
Surprising, even with the Saints’ cap situation. Morstead was the best punter in the league in my opinion for some time. Oh well, he won’t have any trouble finding work, that much is certain.
As a Raiders fan I can tell you with all of the honesty in my heart….
Only teams that are starting the season without playoff hopes…. have the best punters.
Haha true, but Morstead has always undeniably been good. We’ve seen that for a while now.
Johnny Hekker also comes to mind there too.