Upon initial review, San Francisco 49ers fans may be wondering if general manager John Lynch and Co. released the wrong specialist.
After all, it was embattled kicker Jake Moody who was on the hot seat, right? Not veteran punter Thomas Morstead, whom the Niners brought in at the request of special teams coordinator Brant Boyer earlier this offseason.
Yet Morstead found himself released on Tuesday as part of leaguewide roster cuts, news of which was broadcast via the team's website shortly after the 4 p.m. ET deadline.
Wait, so, how does this make sense? Is San Francisco seriously going to go without punting for all of 2025? Is Lynch bringing back former 49ers punter Mitch Wishnowsky? Something else.
How about "none of the above?"
49ers have a reason to release Thomas Morstead
Without trying to dive too deep into the weeds about roster rules and requirements, especially as they pertain to injury lists, the Morstead release is a transactional move that temporarily freed up a space on the 53-man roster.
While the Niners haven't announced who the beneficiary will be, it's pretty easy to determine it's wide receiver Jacob Cowing, who is dealing with a serious ankle injury and won't be ready to go for some time. Shelving him on injured reserve prior to roster cuts would end his season, while a designation on the physically unable-to-perform list would eliminate Cowing's first four games (this is the list fellow receiver Brandon Aiyuk found himself on to begin the regular season).
So, to avoid waiving/injured Cowing and subjecting him to other teams grabbing him off the waiver wire, San Francisco opted to temporarily (that's important) release Morstead.
Even the punter acknowledged this was just transactional shortly after news broke:
R-E-L-A-X
— Thomas Morstead (@thomasmorstead) August 26, 2025
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After the 24-hour period is over, Cowing likely finds himself on injured reserve but with a designation to return, while Morstead is again re-signed to the 53-man roster with the open spot now free.
See? It's purely transactional.
Although it'd be funny to consider a regular-season roster without a punter.