Mike Gesicki doesn’t fit Dolphins scheme but re-sign him anyway

Mike Gesicki is going to cost a lot of money in the off-season and he doesn’t fit Miami’s offensive scheme but I would sign him anyway.

The narrative on Mike Gesicki is that he can’t block. The narrative on Mike Gesicki is that he is a glorified tight end who only catches passes. The narrative on Mike Gesicki is he is a better slot receiver than a TE. I would still try to re-sign him this off-season.

Gesicki has been in the league for five seasons now and his catch totals this year are as low as they were in his rookie season. In that year, he caught 22 balls on 32 targets, this year, 22 balls on 32 targets with half of the season still to go.

Surprisingly, his yardage isn’t horrible for a TE who is used more in a blocking scheme, 238. Gesicki is also on pace to score more TDs this year in a limited pass-catching role than in his previous years. In 2020, Gesicki caught six touchdowns, one more than he did in 2019. Last year, his number dropped to only two touchdowns, albeit in one of the worst offensive systems Miami has ever had.

This year, he has four with half the season ahead of him.

Gesicki’s snap counts are down as well. He is currently pacing to have the lowest numbers since his rookie season (44%). He currently has 52%.

So why should the Dolphins put more money into a tight end that they don’t use as much as you would expect? Well, if I’m the Dolphins, I’m paying for his leadership, his experience, his attitude, and his team-first mentality.

Gesicki is far from a bad TE. He is actually one of the better TEs in the league but he is in a system that he has to grow into. Over the course of this season, Gesicki is learning to become a more well-rounded tight end that needs to block. He has had very good plays and some that were not so good but over the season, he continues to get better making far less mistakes than he did in the beginning.

The Dolphins didn’t trade Gesicki at the deadline but that doesn’t mean they have long-term plans for him. Miami may consider losing Gesicki in the off-season will bring them a 3rd round compensation pick but that is a dart being thrown at a board that depends more on what Miami does this off-season as well.

Gesicki is going to get paid this year whether by the Dolphins or by someone else. If he continues to improve the Dolphins need to seriously consider giving him a team-friendly contract that Gesicki would almost certainly agree to.

Gesicki has reportedly told others he loves being in Miami and that showed when he wasted no time signing his franchise tender. These are players you want to build a team with even if the price tag is a little more than you want to pay.

Need to find money to fit in a $12-14 million annual until the contract settles in? How about the $8 million you save when Teddy Bridgewater isn’t here and maybe getting rid of some of the other contracts, like the $2.5 million being paid to Cethan Carter?

If Miami wants to keep Gesicki, they can very well keep Gesicki. Personally, he may not fit the offense perfectly but he fits the mold of what this team is shaping up to be the Dolphins may not find it as easy to replace him, and let’s be honest, Hunter Long is a long way away from being serviceable. 

The one thing that would keep Gesicki from signing with Miami is the fact that he would enter the free agent market as the most viable option for his position. The only other TE with a name is O.J. Howard and that could be another reason why Miami should try and stick with him. The FA options are not very deep.