Thomas Morstead tweeted a message of gratitude Tuesday for his just-completed first season with the Miami Dolphins, one day after making it crystal clear he's hoping there will be a second act in South Florida.
The three-page Twitter served as a thank you for the 2022 season, with nods to GM Chris Grier, head coach Mike McDaniel and special teams coach Danny Crossman, along with his teammates and his wife, Lauren.
There were, as is usually the case, hashtags at the end of the message and the last one should put to rest any notion that the soon-to-be 37-year-old punter has any intention of retiring.
MORSTEAD HOPING TO COME BACK TO MIAMI
We caught up with Morstead during locker cleanout day Monday and, though he decline to indicate whether there had been any conversations between his agent and the Dolphins about being re-signed, he made clear he wanted it to happen.
"I guess the best way say I just I just still love it," Morstead said Monday. "I still love doing all the bits to it. I'm playing at a really high level. ... Got to convince my wife to have me go another year.
"She's really supportive. It gets harder as you get older. It's a selfish sport. And there's other priorities in your life that you have to balance around and as long as I can give my whole self to doing the job, I'll continue to do it. I love it. And it's given my family a lot of great experiences and so, yeah, I'm certainly not done playing.
"I hope the team knows how much I've appreciated being here. And I think I've provided a great value this year. And so I'll leave it at that. I love being here. It's really been a nice setup for me. There's a bunch of nonstop flights back and forth to New Orleans. So whether it's them (his wife and kids) coming or may getting back for a few days at a time during the season, it's made it to where we were willing to have the strain of it and it's still worth doing. It's definitely a really nice setup down here for me and the family. I'm just disappointed we didn't take it a little further, but it was cool just to have the opportunity and I really enjoyed being here."
MORSTEAD'S FIRST SEASON WITH THE DOLPHINS
Morstead joined the Dolphins last offseason on a one-year contract worth slightly more than $1.1 million, which put him in the middle of the pack among NFL punters.
He overall had a very good season, averaging 46.4 yards per punt with a net of 40.6. More impressively, he had 28 punts inside the 20 against only two touchbacks. The 46.4 average was the highest for a Dolphins punter since 2015 when Matt Darr averaged 47.6, and the 14-to-1 inside the 20 to touchback ratio was the best for a Miami punter since the NFL started tracking it in 1991.
That's what Morstead means when he says he's still performing at a high level, and the price certainly was right in 2022.
That all said, it would make a lot of sense for the Dolphins to bring him back next season.
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