The San Francisco 49ers have made a change at the punter position.
The Niners on Wednesday signed veteran punter Thomas Morstead to a 1-year deal. They cut Mitch Wishnowsky to make room for Morstead on the roster.
The 39-year-old Morstead was a 5th-round pick by the New Orleans Saints in 2009 and spent his first 12 seasons with them. After stints with the Jets, Falcons and Dolphins, Morstead returned to the Jets and spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons with them. He averaged 47.2 yards per punt last season, which was down from the 48.8 yards per punt he averaged the year before. Morstead also had an 11.1 percent touchback rate, which was the worst mark of his career.
The punter Morstead is replacing — Wishnowsky — averaged 45.2 yards per punt over nine games last season. The 33-year-old missed time due to a back injury.
Morstead is pretty thrilled about his new team. He shared a photo on X Wednesday of him outside Levi’s Stadium.
“Grateful is an understatement!” was the caption for his photo.
Grateful is an understatement!#49ers pic.twitter.com/VMaopGt2YD
— Thomas Morstead (@thomasmorstead) May 28, 2025
Wondering if Morstead still has it?
If you’re wondering whether Morstead can still be an effective punter at age 39 and entering season 17 in the NFL, he attempted to answer that recently. He shared a video of himself doing some punting workouts at the Tulane field.
Short Straight Smooth#Year17 #Repeatable pic.twitter.com/wgonIE3394
— Thomas Morstead (@thomasmorstead) May 15, 2025
He definitely can get plenty of hang time on his punts. The Niners are hoping he’ll be able to keep that going once the season begins.
