Gang Green Nation
The Jets made an unexpected move on Tuesday afternoon when they announced they’d released veteran punter Thomas Morestead.
With a new special teams coordinator in town and veterans compensated handsomely (in relation to their positions at least) it was always going to be an area of focus.
I fully expected the Jets to make a move within their special teams to free up some cap space, I just thought we’d be sat here talking about Greg Zuerlein getting the boot instead of Thomas Morestead. For what it’s worth, I still think Zuerlein will be kicking elsewhere or nowhere at all next season.
Morestead in many ways had a below average season, but he did offer plenty in leadership and experience. The issue was that he was carrying a cap hit of $3,050,000 in 2025, and the Jets could and have opened up $2,550,000 by releasing him. When you’re coming off an average to below average season (he ranked 23rd in 40.9 net yards per attempt and 24th in 4.24 hang-time, min 30 snaps) and you’ve just turned 39, you’re vulnerable. You’re even more vulnerable if the team can save over $2.5 million.
But the Jets have a lot of uncertainty at the position. Austin McNamara was already on the roster, but he’s never appeared in a single NFL game, and the team also announced the signing of former South Carolina kicker Kai Kroeger. The scouting reports on both are pretty similar, big legs, plenty of power, but not much touch and questionable hang-time.
As mentioned earlier, Morestead ranked 24th in the league with a hang-time of 4.24. Well McNamara averaged a hang-time of 4.20 in college and Kai Kroeger was at 3.81, Kroeger has thrown 10 passes for 205 yards and 3 touchdowns in his career but if he can’t improve his hang-time he won’t stick around for long. Out-kicking your coverage allows a lot of opportunities for returners, which stresses your special teams tackling and coverage.
There were 33 punters in the NFL last season who attempted at least 15 punts, and not a single one averaged under 4 seconds for their hang-time. 4.11 was the shortest hang-time and around 4.38 is where you want to be if you want to hit that average mark. The best punter in the NFL last year was Michael Dickson over in Seattle and he had a hang-time of 4.53. If you have good direction and touch, and you pair it with a good unit you can get away with a punter around 4.2 seconds in hang-time...you can’t work with 3.81.
