The start of Mike Gesicki’s franchise tag season has come with some new challenges.
After spending his first few seasons as a tight end operating as a receiver, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel has returned Gesicki to his current position. That has required more blocking — Gesicki is not known for this ability — as well as getting comfortable in a different role. It hasn’t been as effortless as one might hope, leading McDaniel to leave Gesicki in Miami’s Week 2 preseason game longer than the rest of the starters.
Rumors of Gesicki’s name being floated in trade talks surfaced following the tight end’s extended participation versus Las Vegas. McDaniel responded to these rumblings Thursday with a lengthy explanation.
“These reports are tricky to me because I’m like — again I’ve alluded to this before at the beginning of the offseason… During the training camp, during the offseason in general, GMs have work to do, and they’re not just watching us coach,” McDaniel said. “So when people report that somebody is, when they use that loose verbiage of ‘his name’s been brought up’ or whatever, I mean, the report is kind of misleading because there are probably just gonna be a lot of names on that report. All I’m focused on, and that’s regardless of what people try to churn up, I’m focused on coaching Mike, Mike’s focused on getting better.
“People have done stuff about this, that or the other. Whether you’re a receiver or a tight end or we even have running backs do it, you have to be able to do stuff with the ball and you have to be able to block for other people that are doing stuff with the ball. We continue to work those techniques with everyone.”
Gesicki embraced the additional playing time following Miami’s 15-13 loss to Las Vegas last weekend, telling reporters “I need all the reps I can get.” For any player occupying a new, unfamiliar role, more practice is never a bad thing. But it can be a sign that the process isn’t going as well as one would hope, and with trade rumors now lingering, it’s not difficult to put the pieces together when wondering whether the tight end’s days in Miami might be numbered.
As far as McDaniel is concerned, well, trade rumors don’t concern him. He’s focused on coaching up the players on his roster, and he likes what he’s seeing from Gesicki.
“He had a great week of practice this week, which tells you a lot about that individual because there has been random noise that he hasn’t listened to clearly,” McDaniel said. “He’s putting his best foot forward, and that’s all that I’m concerned about. It’s my job to coach the players on the team, and I like coaching Mike. Beyond that, it’s kind of a no-ends process of talking about ‘ Did someone talk about somebody else?’ That stuff happens more often than it doesn’t.”
Gesicki isn’t going to suddenly morph into George Kittle, a star tight end in the offense McDaniel directed in San Francisco before moving to Miami. Those players only come along so often, and their skill sets are certainly different. Instead, Miami should hope Gesicki can become the best traditional tight end possible in the amount of time afforded to him.
Should that work out, a long-term extension could be in Gesicki’s future. If not, he’ll have the freedom of free agency to determine his next destination — if the Dolphins don’t trade him first.