Entering another pivotal year tight end Mike Gesicki continues to say all the right things and be a great team player. At a time when many players who be holding out, or holding in, for a longterm deal, Gesicki continues to turn up and help his team.
Despite never believing a longterm deal was on the cards over the summer, and despite a tenuous cap situation for the Dolphins going forward given the huge paydays coming Tyreek Hill’s way, Gesicki is still saying all the right things.
Per Barry Jackson of the Herald, Gesicki on Saturday said “It’s a business. The team will do what’s best for the team. You’ve got to go out and perform. There’s not much else to say. I’m not a big complainer about it, make a big deal about it.”
MIKE GESICKI NEEDS TO ROUND OUT AS A BLOCKER
With new head coach Mike McDaniel and new OC Frank Smith coming from a run heavy background, blocking will be a huge point for Mike Gesicki this season. In 2021 PFF graded Gesicki a lowly 36.6 for pass blocking and 46.1 for run blocking. Compare that to George Kittle’s 76.4 and 73.6 grades and you get an ideal for the gulf in quality when it comes to blocking.
Coming from Kittle’s all round tight end play will likely only serve to highlight the differences for McDaniel. Gesicki himself acknowledged that blocking would have a much greater emphasis in 2022.
“Definitely a much higher emphasis on it for myself this season than any other season I’ve been here,” he said of blocking. “In order to make plays in the pass game in this offense, you have to make plays in the run game as well. Working on it every single day and continuing to improve. You’ve got to make the plays with pads on and ultimately on Sundays.”
But make no mistake Mike Gesicki will get paid in 2023, the only question is whether the Dolphins will be the teams that pays him. Already facing being $24-million over the cap for 2023, the Dolphins will have difficult decisions ahead.
The Dolphins four highest-paid players in 2023 will account for $112-million of a cap that could be in the $245-million range. Put another way, the Dolphins have two players counting $10m+ against the cap this season. Next season that number goes up to seven players, with three of those counting $20m+.
Tua Tagovailoa will need paying in 2024/25, and assuming (please) that Austin Jackson works out on Tua’s blindside he will need paying in 2024/25 as well.
Obviously there’s a long way to go before any of that happens, and Mike Gesicki is out there working doing all he can to make himself and the Dolphins as successful as possible.
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