On Tuesday, the Miami Dolphins placed the franchise tag on tight end Mike Gesicki. The tag assures Gesicki will be with the Dolphins for another year, barring a trade, at the franchise price of $10 million for tight ends. The Dolphins didn’t seem to show much interest in signing Gesicki to long-term and yet decided to put the tag on him. My question is, why put the franchise tag on him if you aren’t trying to work out a long-term deal? Â
I know Gesicki has value as a pass as evidence of his second straight season of at least 70 catches. However, the reality is he’s not a tight end and more of a slot receiver, which is fine, but new coach Mike McDaniel expects his team to be a tough physical team. Gesicki is not a physical player, and I’m questioning how he will fit into this offense?Â
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Could McDaniel and his new coaching staff coach him up to become a better all-around player, including blocking? Yes, it’s possible, but Gesicki has been in the NFL for four years, and he hasn’t improved in anything outside of his catching and receiving yards. Yes, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa needs a lot of playmakers, but McDaniels new brand doesn’t appear to fit with Gesicki. Now he could use his skill set as a receiver and forget the blocking, but then we will be in the same spot in which Gesicki is a free agent, and the price will be higher. Â
The Dolphins like Gesicki, but they don’t love him. Otherwise, they would have made him a commitment on a potential deal. It was telling the Dolphins had more conversations on an extension with defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah than Gesicki. Now the franchise tag for a defensive end is twice the amount at 20 million than the tight end position, so obviously, the Dolphins went the cheaper route. This tag on Gesicki is a band aide just like Omar Kelly of the Sun-Sentinel put it in his column because I don’t believe the Dolphins have him in the long-term plans, so why not just let him hit the market and waste 10 million dollars. There are other tight ends on the market, like OJ Howard, who is a more versatile tight end. Even fellow Dolphins free agent tight end Durham Smythe is a better fit for this offense and would be cheaper. Â
I hope this coaching staff can coach Gesicki up in the other areas of his game, but I’m not optimistic about that. I would have let him walk and use the money elsewhere, especially with all the money the Dolphins have to spend.Â
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“It was telling the Dolphins had more conversations on an extension with defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah than Gesicki.” This is true. But it is possible that all it is telling is that they team knew they would be willing to take Gesicki, so he was a lower priority than Ogbah, who would cost much more to tag. Also, Ogbah would probably get a long term deal for less than the tag, while Gesicki could probably get one for more. And don’t give up on Gesicki as a blocker yet. It hasn’t mattered in Miami because the line has been so bad, but a decent run turns into a long TD when someone blocks the safety who is trying to come up in support. Gesicki may not be able to block a LB or DE, but I bet he can block a safety or corner, so he may end up being very valuable in the run game.