When is the last time the Miami Dolphins have had a tight end that was a legitimate seam threat down the middle of the field?
I’d go all the way back to Randy McMichael. Some might argue Charles Clay, but I was never a fan of Clay because you never knew what you were getting with him week to week. One week he’d have a great game but then disappear for a handful of games. The Buffalo Bills are probably regretting giving him the big contract 3 years ago if they were to be totally honest.
The Dolphins have had decent enough tight ends over the years like Anthony Fasano. But Fasano was more of an in line blocking tight end and he could catch the ball well, but he just wasn’t very athletic to stretch the field of the defense.
I was excited when the Dolphins selected tight end Mike Gesicki in the 2nd round of the draft this year. At 6’6″, Gesicki has the size and athleticism to be that seam threat tight end the Dolphins have been lacking for years. The problem with Gesicki is he isn’t a strong blocker.
In my opinion the one position that isn’t developed well at the college level is tight end. Teams are doing more spread formations and aren’t asking their tight ends to block. Consequently, tight ends come to the NFL and can’t block so teams must teach them to be adequate blockers and that could take some time and it just doesn’t happen overnight.
Gesicki might be a liability because of this and might not get a lot of snaps until he proves he can block, but his pass catching, and athletic ability will be hard to keep him off the field as evidenced by his one-handed catch with tight coverage in the end zone this past Saturday.
It seems like a lot of draft experts felt the Dolphins made a mistake taking Gesicki because of his blocking. How many tight ends can make big plays in the passing game and be good at blocking in the running game? Not too many the only one that comes to mind is Rob Gronkowski.
Some people criticized the Dolphins for not going after Jimmy Graham. The funny part about Graham is he’s a talented receiver but can’t block his way out of a paper bag either. You must take the good with the bad with him and that’s the way it will be for Gesicki. If Gesicki develops into a respectable blocker great, but that will take time and effort on his part. Consequently, he might be brought along slowly and as fans we must be patient with him.
