Welcome to Miami Thomas Morstead

Thomas Morstead is the latest Miami Dolphin. We'll talk about his game and we'll also have Thomas on the podcast. Here a great, great sit down chat with the new punter of the Miami Dolphins coming your way on this edition of the Drivetime Podcasts. So you go over Thomas moore Stead's career and you're gonna find a bunch of really good net average is and a bunch of balls

down inside the twenty and ten yard lines. Basically prolific production throughout the course of a thirteen year National Football League career, and twelve of those years started with the New Orleans Saints, where he was drafted back in two

thousand nine. Actually the second punter drafted that year, but as you'll hear from Thomas here in just one second, the Saints traded up into the fifth round to go get more Stead and all he did for them was give him a forty six point six average over twelve years. And he also up to the Anti last year his first season after leaving New Orleans with the Jets and Falcons, averaging forty seven point seven yards per punt and that

was ninth best in the National Football League. He also has a Pro Bowl and a second team All Pro honors to his name. Talked about him being a fifth round draft pick that same year, he went from a camp battle which he won obviously, to the Super Bowl and one of the biggest moments a punter could possibly have in the Super Bowl when he dribbled an onside kick for the Saints to recover, and of course that was kind of the turning point in that game ten

to six at the halftime break. They get the onside kick, score a touchdown, lose a lead, but get the lead back later on. And that more Stead on side kick, which you'll hear from him here and just a minute talk about, was a big, big part of that victory. And actually that was more Stead's last game at hard Rock Stadium. It was a second game that season, you might recall, and he came into the podcast studio and

told me about this. But yeah, that's the second time I played at hard Rock Stadium and the last time. The first time was a game back in oh nine against the Dolphins down by twenty points. I'm like, Thomas, I know exactly what you're talking about. We lost that game. That was a brutal, brutal defeat for the Miami Dolphins, but I'm sure a nice win for you guys for the Saints, and those the only two times he's ever played at hard Rock Stadium. They talk about veteran leadership

and we'll talk to Thomas about this as well. And it's a funny thing for you know, someone that he he says to himself that you don't go down and make hits, but to be a leader, not sacrificing your body like the other guys do. And just kind of the understanding and resp back that he had for what his job, what his role, and the wisdom that he can impart on younger players. And there's a great article up on New Orleans dot com New Oran Saints dot Com I should say after he left the Saints after

those twelve years. And there's all kinds of quotes in there from Thomas talking about the things that people value and leadership. You know, he's not gonna a guy that's gonna go lead the pregame huddle or anything like that, but talking about how it's unique to be a unique thing to be a leader when you don't hit people into sport that's full of hitting. And he was a captain for the Saints from and he said, so, I

try to be a teacher. I've tried to be a coach on the field for young players, tried to get them up to speed as quickly as possible. I've tried to mentor players off the field with finances and just making sure they have things that are important to make sure they're handling the awesome responsibility that they're given with making a good living. So we'll also talk about these last two things here with Thomas moore Stead. There's a

five things article up on Miami Dolphins dot com. We'll also have Thomas here in the podcast just one second, but a couple of things from the article. Go check out his charity that the foundation that him and his wife Lauren run what you give will grow. There's a great story about how that really took off back after the Minneapolis Miracle game that he was actually on the wrong side of with the Saints there. And then also a book that was written about his life called The

Middle School Rules of Thomas Morstead. Go read about that on Miami Dolphins dot Com. Let's go ahead and not waste any more time here and get to my guest today, new Dolphins punter Thomas Morse. Did what's up? Dolphins? Travis Wingfield here, the host of the Drivetime podcast on the Miami Dolphins podcast network, and I'm joined today by new Dolphins punter Thomas Morse. Did Thomas, what's up mine? How you doing? I'm great, glad to be here, glad to

have you in so here in Miami. How's it all? Field? To be signed with Dolphins and be a Miami Dolphin. Now, I'm super excited to be here. Um, you know, there's not too many places, you know, when I was looking at where I could potentially end up, this was kind of uh choice one A, one B with one other team. So I'm fired up. My my kids were excited. This was their one A choice. So I'm excited that my family is excited about being here. What what was the

big draw for them? Uh, well, my my oldest sons specifically, he loves fishing and so that was exciting to get out here for that. And you know, last year was you know, I had a rough twenty had to get overcome some things, and um, getting back on the saddle

last year required me being gone. I signed mid season with Jets and then halfway through the year I also was with Falcons for the rest of the year, and um, it was just what was required for me to get back in, get my foot in the door, and show teams that I'm back to kind of being myself and being an elite player in this league. And so that's

that's just what was required. And I was away from the kids, so we were certainly not interested in doing that again this year, and so a huge part of where I was gonna end up was, um, you know, what were the kids gonna be excited about? And can we make this a fun adventure for them? You know, they're old enough to kind of know what's going on now, so we want them to be excited about what's happening. And because it'll be a lot of change for them,

and so this was their number one choice. So it's good. My daughter loves the beach, so plenty of plenty of things I do done here. It's fun. So you talk about your career a little bit there, your fifth round draft pick, and you know, anytime a specialist is drafted, it usually speaks pretty highly of of their abilities and skill sets. Now you're heading into your fourteen is that kind of when you hear that, do you think like, Wow, it's the journey I've been on. It's kind of unbelievable.

It is, Uh, it definitely is. Um, you know, I was a tryout player in college for a few years and um, you know, the dream was to play on

a Saturday one day. And then I discovered the weight room, and um, you know, I saw a significant change in my body and how far the ball was going, how high it was going, and all of a sudden, you know, towards the back end of my college career, I was like, I think I could have a chance to play in the NFL, And um, it was fortunate that the Saints took a chance on me that traded up into the fifth round to come get me. And UM had an awesome career there. Um we still live there. Um it's home.

And you know, I'm grateful to everybody in that organization. UM, they were very good to me, and so UM you know, I'm just excited to be here. And I just you know, I never I never thought I'd go anywhere else, but you know, things happen, and UM, you know, you decide if you want to keep going or how important things are to you. And UM, you know, I love playing

the game. I love all the aspects that come with it, the training, I love the team camaraderie and um, just being part of the team and being depended on in critical moments is um something that not a lot of people get to experience. And and any type of job and so UM, you know, to be a part of that is exciting. And to feel how strongly this team wanted me to be here was also exciting. UM. And so I'm looking forward to hopefully proving them right on

taking a chance on me. It's pretty tough to replicate the competitive juice you get from playing sports. You can't. You can't beat that anywhere else. You talk about you with the Saints, you know, joining a couple of former teammates here in Miami now with Toron Armstead and Teddy Bridgewater. What can you tell us about those guys? Well, Tehran is uh, you know, he's been the consummate professional every box you could look to check as a team. As far as what you're looking for in a person and

a player, he is he checks the box. So, um, you know, we have a little thing going. Uh. We always refer to each other as the real Tea Stead because we once got confused in a medical thing. So um. Anyways, I'll be excited to have a little bit of familiarity with a few guys. Um, you know, only spend a little bit of time with Teddy, but he was he he became beloved in New Orleans and his time there, and um, you know he was a great teammate. And um, I know he's a new dad here recently, and I'm

excited to be around both those guys. They're great, mean beings. Toront had the tistad chain when I did the podcast with him. I don't see it was that yours he was borrowing or was that? Now? You know, I haven't had one of those made yet, so I may have to borrow that see if I can get a I'd like to kind of do a you know, like a throwback picture of just his his press conference whatever it was a week ago, and maybe borrow the chain and get that same thirteen jersey on and uh see if

I can replicate it. That's incredible, But I hope you can't be fun to see. So you talk about, you know, wanting to be here the Dolphins one, you hear you met coach McDaniel already. What's your first impression of him? Yeah, he's uh, he's obviously an incredibly intelligent guy. Um. You know, I did a little research on him before showing up to the meeting, you know, just so I was a little bit prepared, and um, from the videos I had seen of him before, UM, you can tell he's a

very very smart guy. And UM, you know, the thing that I like about any coach or player is if you're authentic, then you're yourself, um, and you can help the team win, You'll be accept did and so UM, you know, he doesn't seem like he's putting on a show for anybody. He's just being himself. And I think as long as he does that, um, you know, his ability as a coach and as a as somebody who's going to develop plays and do all the things that he has to do. I'm sure it'll shine through as

he's here. UM, I really enjoyed meeting with him. And then your position coaches are specialist coach coach Danny Crossman by him. Yeah, I would say that's the biggest reason for me being comfortable being here. Um. We sat down for a number of hours the other day and I got to know each other, got to know the language that we're gonna use, how he coaches things and expectations and we're on the same page. So UM, that's all

you can ask for. UM. I've I've had some really outstanding especially to coach relationships, and I've had some not so outstanding ones. And the difference in performance can be significant. Um. And it really matters who you're dealing with and who uh you know, how they operate and are we working together or are we on Are we are we equals? Are we on the same team? Here? We point our guns at the same direction, and so um, he would I would say he was the biggest reason for me

being here. It was just that comfort level with him, getting to know him, and um, and I'm excited to get to work with him. Yeah, he's the best, is the very best. So one part of the game that I think, you know, I think is the least studied and this is just my opinion, but is holding on field goals and p A T s. And you know, one thing we do on the podcast here is like to educate, and I think who better to get to educas on holding Thomas Moristead. So just kind of take

us through the fire points of holding in the kicking game. Yeah, so the snapper Blake will throw a ball to me and I'm gonna catch it, I'm gonna put it on the ground. Um, and then our kicker Jason is gonna make it right. So yeah, there's there's a lot of detail to it. Um, I would say a big thing. It's a very process oriented thing for me as a holder because I'm kind of the quarterback for the play.

I'm kind of typically anyways, you know, the quarterback of the play running everything and um, and it's so much of it. I found it's about rhythm and timing and making everything feel exactly the same to your snapper and to your kicker on every single rep. And you know, it's really kind of a thankless job, which is fine, but you know it's, uh, you only ever highlighted if you either run a fake or or you botch something, and so try not to do that, you know. But

I think it's like anything, you just stay in your process. Um. You know, you you really have to figure out what your kicker wants and what's important to them. Right, some guys are more particular about certain things than others, and so it's just about getting to know your guy. And my job is to um, is to create an environment for both of those guys that they feel confident and comfortable at all times. And if I can do that, then I'm doing my job and I'm gonna get out

of the way. And and you know, hopefully if if Blake's doing his thing and Jason is doing his thing, well I'm just I'm kind of an intermediary, you know, I'm I'm I'm I'm moderating, if you will, and uh, and so it's just to kind of, I guess, not be seen. If that makes sense, It makes perfect sense.

I think we had a key on crossing here. He's a special team's ace here with us, and I talked to him about Dion Sanders should always say on the NFL Network highlight show, like we're only showing the punt highlights if there's a big play or a mistake. So it's kind of how it goes that way. So twelve years at the saying slash you you end with the Jets after I stent with the Falcons as well, Jet

Jets first, then second apologies. Um. So I was curious because you know, you'll you'll possibly have some games here with the Dolphins up in the Northeast in December Thanksgiving holiday like round when the weather gets kind of crummy. It wasn't a good chance last year for you to get an experience kicking in some some bad weather. Yeah, I mean I played up in Buffalo, uh right towards the end of the season, and that was kind of

an extraordinary game. It was snowing and wendy and cold, and I had I had never played in a game quite like that. Um. But it's it's more than anything. It's about um. You know, I've played in every kind

of scenario other than snow up until that point. Um, And so you know it's you know, when I was a young player, I used to check the weather every day and kind of get you know, anxious about it and and you know I've seen and done it all and you know their guy has to play it too, So you can't get caught up in in in keeping a certain stat line up throughout the year. You just need to provide value and take what's there and make the plays that are there to be made when you

have the chance to make them. And you can't do anything more than that. And I think it's it's you know, it's all about providing value to your team on game day. And sometimes sometimes a forty yard average is is a great game, you know. Sometimes it's say you're playing a great returner and the coaches asking, hey, we need this ball a bounds every time, and that's the standard. Sometimes, you know, sometimes of a fifty yard average wasn't a good game. You know, it just depends on what the

coaches are asking to do. And not having an ego, think if you if you can. You know, I had kids years ago now, so I've lost my ego a long time ago. So I think once you lose your ego, um, it's just about doing what's best for the team and and that's all it is. Context is always very very keen and yeah, you talk about that. I get the veteran kind of experience from you there in that standpoint.

This is a pretty young team that you're coming here with the Miami Dolphins, but you have the elite distinction of being now I'm not hoping to stop on your toes here, but the most veteran player on the roster, the oldest guy. Yeah, you're the old guy. Now, So how will you approach that leadership role you have here? Not just with a specialist, but across the roster is

someone that has so much experience and wisdom in this league. Yeah, look, Um, I think the best way to talk about that is to say, hey, you know, I don't go at least this very infrequent am I going down and hitting people? Right? So I'm not sacrificing my body in a similar way that a lot of other guys are expected and do. Um. You know, I think the world of of anybody that plays in this league. It's a demanding, demanding league. And um, and so I've never been a raw, raw guy. Um.

You know, I work my ass off. Um, when I train with the team, I think guys will see that, Um, they're going to see a strong older guy. They're going to see a strong older guy and a guy that runs well and a guy that's going to train hard. And so that's one of the ways I try to earn my stripes. And then UM, and then obviously performing well on game day is a huge thing. You know, UM, you've got to get it done and guys need to know they can depend on you, and those two things

were critical. UM as far as the other stuff goes. You know, I feel like one of my roles for a number of years now has been to UM try to get young guys to speed their learning curve up quicker than it otherwise would happen. And UM it's unique because I once I learned how coach Crossman coaches and the technical terms that he uses and how he does philosophy with all those guys, I can UM then kind of be another voice UM and help guys hopefully get

them moving along a little quicker. UM. And I have a huge vested interest not only from team standpoint want everybody doing well, but selfishly, you know, I want guys that are out there that know what they're doing, because you know, there's a punt is not just catch it and smack it down the field and pray that somebody makes a tackle. Right, there's a there's a it's a it's a jazz session, right, It's it's it's choreographed, but

there's chaos, right. And so um, if everybody's again on the same page and everybody understands that everybody's role is, you have a greater chance for success. And so I'll

hope to be a resource for all those guys. And then um and then last way, I think just you know, being somebody that has you know, been fortunately playing this league a long time and save money and um, you know, I love getting with younger players and making sure that they're not being foolish with you know, the financial opportunity that they have, and just helping them along with that and how to think about things and make sure you have an accountant, make sure you have somebody that's helping

you with these things. And um, I love to be a resource for guys in that way as well. So now you are the veteran, but back when you were a rookie, one of the biggest moments of your entire group we talked about this little bit the onside kicking the Super Bowl so I read a story about it. I was just doing some research on it, and it said that you maybe a little bit nervous at the time. Talk talk to us about that situation, because that was such a big moment, a big game, and you're a rookie.

You make this this big play in the game. Did you guys have a feeling that was gonna work? Did you feel pretty good about it going in, Like what was your your thought process when you had that that big time on site? Yeah, well, number one, I would hope that everybody thought it was gonna work or else. I don't know why I would call that. Number two. Yeah,

I mean it was. It was a tremendous opportunity. We really hadn't played super well in the first half and we were only downtown six, So we kind of came into locker room feeling like, Okay, we're kind of fortunate to be where we're at. We haven't we haven't done what we hope we would do. Um and then yeah, I mean, we'd practice it only for a few weeks. It was the one way we thought we could still

possession from Peyton Manning. I know, originally they had looked for a fake pond but they kind of that year were very conservative on their punt return team and so there wasn't really an opportunity to do that. And so this was the idea we came up with and it just worked well. Um. Um, with the way I kicked off that whole season was always from the right hash to the deep right corner, so teams would cheat over and so doing the swing back to the left was

the right call. And um, you know, it certainly didn't go exactly how we thought it would go. Um, we we kind of missed blocking um hank basket who had a chance to recover it. But you know, football is an imperfect game. And at the time, I want to say that the chances of recovering that for the with the way the kickoff rules were at the time, it was about a two thirds chance of recovery. So it was actually not a foolish bet statistically, and and um,

and so we knew that. So my last thing I told myself before I hit the ball was this, better go ten yards, like just give us. You gotta give yourself a chance. It may not go perfect, but you

gotta give yourself a chance. And I did. And um, guys, guys, all were rallying and it was the longest pile up ever and you know, guys are scratching and clawing to you know, it's their Super Bowl aspirations of everybody under that pile, and so we were fortunate to come up with a ball and and we went down and scored

and took the lead. And even though it's still back and forth from there, I think when we made that play, made that call, made the aggressive decision that we were not gonna be dictated to in this game, it kind of just felt like we were gonna win no matter what. And so it's been an awesome thing for me from my career. You know, specialists that the game is so mental for specialists and you don't always feel your best. You don't always have the confidence that you'd like to.

You know, you don't share that with it with too many people, but you just kind of go through these apps and flows and being able to lean back on times where you've got it done in big moments and been all the calm yourself. It's it's it's always something you can remind yourself of that you um that you do have the ability to, you know, get yourself into the right mindset. I love you gave us the two thirds percentage chance and that is a big stat driven

podcast here, So you're really very cool. I'm a numbers guys. So we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna get along. Great. That's perfect. You're fitting right and right away here. So a couple of things I wanted to ask you about your first You and your wife started the What What You Give Will Grow Foundation foundation chair back back. Can you tell us about the goal of that and what

you guys have done so far with it. Yeah, we're kind of in a transition right now with that obviously not being in New Orleans, I say not being there, not playing there and um and also covid has kind of shut down a lot of things there. But we basically it's given us the ability to be very reactive with some real needs in the community. When I have

come up. Our donor UH donor base has been great and are uh people that are giving of their time, are volunteers, are like ferociously involved, and so it was an awesome thing. It's like anything when you give of your time or your money or your resources and you're really in it for the right reasons. It ends up being such a blessing too, just outside of all the things you're doing. It, um exposes things that you didn't know.

We're an issue in your community. Um. It gets you to meet people that are going through like difficult things. And it's been a real blessing for me my wife to be able to do something. I know there's needs everywhere, but in New Orleans specifically, there were lots of things. And just to be a part of it and be a part of a group of people that all, you know,

we're wanting to give of some resource, time, energy, money, whatever. Um, we just had a really nice family of people that you know, we all got together and did some good stuff off and anyways, love being a part of that. Yeah, it's awesome playing of playing opportunities down here as well to get called in the community. So also an author as well, What can you tell us about the Middle School Rules of Thomas Morstead? So yeah, you know, I

am officially an author. The writer Sean Jensen who did that book, Um, he is the real author and um, yeah you know I So whenever we the Saints played the Vikings and the Playoffs in two thousand spring of eighteen, it was the seventeen season, and I kind of had a unique thing happened to me in that game. I made a tackle in the first part of the game, and I tore some cartilage and my ribs, and you know, it got reported that I had broken my ribs in

the game. And then uh, we came back and we thought we'd want and then they hit them Minnesota miracle and went on and we had to come out for the extra point, and I was the first guy out on the field because two thirds of the guys were in showers probably are you know, they're already in towels in the locker room. They weren't coming back out. So I came back out, and of Vikings fans you know, started donating to our foundation, and we end up raising

like three some thousand dollars. And so whenever all this money started pouring in, I just said, while we're really blown away by this, you know, nice gesture about all these people in Minnesota, I said, you know, if we get to a hundred grand, I'll come back up super Bowl week and I'll give the checkout to the hospital

up there. On that one crazy and so um I interviewed with all these people media row and Sean was the last person I interviewed with, and he as a reporter up there, and he had showed me a few of his books on his middle school rules of so and so and uh. He sent me a few copies of different people that he done books with and was asked if just asked if I'd be interested in doing one, and I said, yeah, sure. You know, I don't know if you're trying to sell a bunch of books or not.

I mean, I'm not like some big name in some big market. And he just said, well, you have an interesting story and I think it would be a great book to write. And I said, yeah, sure, let's do it. And so we did that to other it was really cool. Unfortunately, we released it right when COVID happened, so we did nothing as far as you know, what you would normally do when you release a book. But it was a

great experience. And it's a cool thing to have, um from my kids, and we'll donate to schools and stuff down in New Orleans here and there. So it's a cool thing. Yeah, that's very cool, I mean, and it's a great opportunity. And like you know, a rough couple of years like you mentioned, for the pandemic, everyone kind of getting back from that, so hopefully things are looking back up now. So speaking of that, now you're here with the Miami Dolphins. Last question for you, Thomas, what's

the one thing you're looking forward to most about this opportunity. Um, well, I don't want to say this with any sort of arrogance, because I certainly don't view myself that way, but UM, I'm looking forward to you know, you get a little older in this league and you start to get a little ages and kick in and and I'm looking forward to validating h to myself. Um. You know, this would be hopefully first full season with a team now in a few years because of what happened last year. So

I'm just excited to provide value. I'm excited to Um. You know, you may have you know, a lot of times fans don't understand the value of punning or certain plays in the game where hidden yard it's really matters.

And UM, when I met with coach the head coach here, coach Michael, he just said that, Um, this was going to be a huge part of our plan was field position, and we have, uh, you know, have had a good defense and hoping to continue that and um and that just that's very excited to be a part of that. And I'm excited to kind of prove I'm excited to prove this team right. For give me a shot. Great stuff, Thomas Morris. That do Dolphins punter appreciate it? Thank you?

And there he goes. What a great sit down that was with new Dolphins punter Thomas Morstead. Let's go ahead and take our last break here on this edition of the Drive Time Podcast. Will come back? Can put a bow on it? All right? We are back here on this edition of the Drivetime Podcast, the Thomas Morstead edition of Drive Time. I'm gonna go ahead and wrap things

up here. Keep it locked right here, though, because we have so many draft preview content podcasts coming your way and some exciting content with some scouts sitting down chatting with them plenty to come here on the Drivetime Podcast. In the meantime, that is gonna be my time. You all, please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, leave us a rating and leave us a review. You

can follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. You can follow the Dolphins at Miami Dolphins across all social channels. Check out the Fish Tank podcast and our weekly Twitter Spaces show every Wednesday at eight o'clock with Me, Seth and o J. Check out the YouTube channel for the availabilities for Dolphins Today and the Drivetime sit down with Thomas Morstead, and of course, last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, fends up Caroline. Daddy, He's coming home.