Can Mike Gesicki adapt to Dolphins' new offense under Mike McDaniel?

By Henry McKenna
FOX Sports AFC East Writer

Mike Gesicki isn’t the type of player who should see a lot of action in meaningless preseason games. The Miami Dolphins‘ tight end is one the NFL‘s 10 best players at his position.

And yet Gesicki led all tight ends in snaps during preseason Week 2.

Something is clearly off between Gesicki and Miami. That much was apparent even before Pro Football Focus reported that the Dolphins have been open to trading him during training camp.

Over the past few years, Gesicki has been one of the top pass-catching tight ends in the league. Even in an offense that finished last season with 3,936 passing yards (17th in the NFL) and 21 touchdowns (22nd), Gesicki had 73 catches for 780 yards (eighth among tight ends) and two touchdowns.

Still, the Dolphins appear to be having issues acclimating him into new head coach Mike McDaniel’s offense, which is an iteration of Kyle Shanahan’s offense.

“It’s definitely a whole different offense and a whole different scheme,” Gesicki told reporters last weekend. “I’m learning a new position basically. … I think there has been a lot of progress, but obviously a lot more to go.”

A new position? How so?

“I’ve played receiver the past three or four years,” Gesicki said. “I’m playing tight end now, and any reps I can get live — out there blocking, putting my hands on another guy … working on my footwork and my hand placement — all that kind of stuff. Any reps I can get at that, I can use it.”

The Dolphins’ previous system, under former offensive coordinator Chan Gailey, made use of Gesicki’s strengths as a pass-catcher and route-runner. He presented the classic tight-end matchup problem: too tall and strong for most cornerbacks and too fast and agile for most safeties. But he has never been much of a blocker. At 6-foot-6 and 245 pounds, Gesicki has been a massive slot receiver, like he said himself.

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle is the tight end, ideally, that McDaniel would like Gesicki to be. Now, that’s obviously not happening in a simple sense: Kittle is more well-rounded and, in turn, a more productive player than Gesicki. Kittle might be the best tight end in the NFL right now.

But what seems to be coming to light is that Gesicki is not developing into an able enough blocker to fulfill his role within the Dolphins’ offense. They have weeks to continue to fiddle and figure. Gesicki can get bigger and stronger — he’s just 26 years old and can probably manage adjusting his playing size and style. But because reports have emerged that the Dolphins are listening to trade offers for Gesicki, it’s fair to wonder whether they think he cannot evolve into the every-down tight end they need.

McDaniel took a look at Gesicki with eight snaps against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in preseason Week 1, a game in which no other Miami offensive starters played. Then Gesicki stayed in after the other starters left the game in preseason Week 2 against the Las Vegas Raiders.

“It is not an easy job to play tight end in the offense, so we thought that it would benefit him to get him in a little bit,” McDaniel said. “I was happy with the way he played and how he approached it. Again, it was not a punishment at all.”

Gesicki’s snaps against Vegas served as a reminder of his issues as a run blocker and in pass protection. On the team’s first snap of the game, Gesicki completely whiffed on his blocking assignment for running back Chase Edmonds and, though Gesicki’s mistake didn’t impact the play, the run went for a loss of four yards.

Gesicki remained in the game for the third drive and, on the second play of the series, he served as a pass-protector for backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. Raiders linebacker Curtis Bolton blasted past the tight end off the edge and tackled Bridgewater in the end zone. While the QB was able to throw the ball away, he was flagged for intentional grounding, which resulted in a safety. Gesicki’s error resulted in a negative two-point swing.

In that game, Gesicki caught three of his six targets for 27 yards in a mixed effort as a pass-catcher. He had a miscommunication with Tua Tagovailoa where the ball hit him in the chest on a slant route when the tight end wasn’t ready for the target. The ball fell incomplete. Gesicki took the blame after the game and said he needed to get his head around more quickly.

“That’s one of the reasons why he stayed in the game, because he was frustrated,” McDaniel said. “As a competitor, he knew he could make the plays that he didn’t.”

McDaniel later added: “He needs to continue what he is doing, which is completely committing in the run and pass game to the offense. As long as he approaches it like the player that he is — where he is very accountable — we’ll be fine.”

The Dolphins don’t have much in the way of depth at tight end past Gesicki. Their next option is 27-year-old Durham Smythe, a fourth-round pick in 2018. He logged 34 catches for 357 yards and no touchdowns in 2021. It’s likely he would ascend if the Dolphins found a trading partner for Gesicki. The Carolina Panthers ($21.4 million in cap space) and Cincinnati Bengals ($15.9 million) seem like obvious landing spots. There’s an outside chance Gesicki could end up with the Washington Commanders ($13 million) or the Tennessee Titans ($11 million).

The problem is that Gesicki, who is playing on the franchise tag, brings a large cap hit: $10.9 million. Many teams might have interest but don’t currently have enough cap space to add Gesicki. It’s hard to imagine teams clearing space on top of giving up a high draft pick for the tight end. That could change as the season rolls on, with injuries increasing and Gesicki’s cap hit decreasing every week.

The truth is that the Dolphins will be better off with Gesicki than without him. McDaniel is touted as one of the NFL’s brilliant young minds. He should find a way to use a productive player like Gesicki in an offense that, in 2021, looked like it needed to add playmakers — not lose them.

Gesicki and McDaniel are both talented enough to make their imperfect marriage work.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @McKennAnalysis.