Mike Gesicki broke through with a solid third season. Only three tight ends’ receiving yardage outputs exceeded his 2020 production, giving the former second-round pick some momentum going into his contract year.
The Dolphins have already extended two members of their 2018 draft class — linebacker Jerome Baker (Round 3) and kicker Jason Sanders (Round 7) — but Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes the team does not have a Gesicki extension on its radar going into training camp.
[RELATED: Dolphins To Consider Extension For TE Durham Smythe?]
Like most tight ends, Gesicki took a bit of time to develop. Following an unproductive rookie year, however, the Penn State product has totaled 1,273 yards over the past two seasons. Last season, only Travis Kelce, Darren Waller and T.J. Hockenson outpaced Gesicki’s 703 yards among tight ends. That total nearly led the Dolphins, with DeVante Parker only accumulating 793 in his 14-game campaign.
The 6-foot-6 pass catcher added six receiving touchdowns. Gesicki will be tasked with further aiding Tua Tagovailoa‘s development this season, though his role in the aerial pecking order may change after the Dolphins signed Will Fuller and used the No. 6 overall pick on Jaylen Waddle. The Dolphins also drafted Boston College tight end Hunter Long in the third round. That could well impact Gesicki’s status.
Kelce and George Kittle have raised the bar for tight end salaries, after they had stagnated for several years in the late 2010s. Austin Hooper and recently signed Patriots Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry are also earning eight figures on average. It will be interesting to see if the Dolphins move to extend Gesicki before his contract year begins. Another productive season will make him one of the top free agent pass catchers available come March. The Dolphins would have the franchise tag in play in 2022 as well, though the tight end tag number will certainly be higher than it was this year ($9.6MM).
Miami should be a playoff team this year. Tons of high draft picks from rounds 1 to 4. But the duel OC & the HC having no faith in Tua; points to another bad season. Throw in their PO top CB and it’s not always sunny in South Beach.
What makes you think they have no faith in Tua. Everything they have done and said would leave any rational person to surmise that they have plenty of faith in Tua.
Besides the constant benching last year, and plenty of talk about trying to trade for Watson (prior to the charges)? All offseason both the GM & HC have said ‘how much faith they have in Tua’. That’s always a bad sign.
I have no faith in Tua lol. I never thought he would be a great QB and was against drafting him . and so far I don’t like what I’ve seen from him . he’s talented but I just don’t see him being a good or great starting QB.
The “no faith in Tua” narrative is media driven nonsense. When Tua outplays Herbert and Burrow this season I want to see all those hacks try to weasel out of the garbage they were trying to push this entire off-season.
Although I’d like to see Geseicki get reupped, Fins did draft a possible replaced in TE Long in addition to two solid TE2’s in Smythe and Shereen.
Having said that, MG should be able to at least replicate his 2020 season if not do even better.
This is probably driven by the salary cap.
The Dolphins only have $5.3 million in cap space left this year, but over $55 million in cap space for 2022, per OTC. Baker’s new contract gobbled up over $3 million of the 2021 salary cap with the first year of his $12.5 million prorated signing bonus (all of it was paid to him this year, but $3.125 million is counted against the cap for this, the last year of his rookie deal, and each of the three years of his new deal, 2022-2024), and the team can’t sustain a similar hit to their available cap space if they want to maintain an emergency fund for the season.
On the one hand, I could see Gesicki wanting to get an extension done now for the sake of security. But if he continues to improve, he could be in a much stronger bargaining position after the season, especially if he decides to test the unrestricted free agency waters.
I hope he doesn’t sign an extension and hits the market as the top TE and gets a monster deal from JAX or Jets next year