The future of Miami Dolphins tight end Mike Gesicki has been the biggest topic of discussion this week after Pro Football Focus’ Doug Kyed reported that the team had mentioned his name in trade talks.
Head coach Mike McDaniel responded to the rumors on Thursday, but he didn’t necessarily deny them.
Now, another man who has held the title of head coach in Miami has given his take on the matter, as Dave Wannstedt spoke about Gesicki with the 33rdTeam.
“I’m having a tough time figuring out how Mike is not a fit down there,” Wannstedt said. “I do a lot of work with the Big Ten Network, so I followed his career at Penn State. When you have guys that score touchdowns, as a head coach, you find a way to make it fit. I don’t know if there’s more to the story or not, but there’s something missing that I don’t think anybody’s talking about or aware of.
“There’s nothing that puts more pressure [on a defense] than a 6-foot-5, 200-plus pound receiver. You can put him in the box or you can remove him from the box. When he’s in the game, you’re trying to figure out if you want a linebacker or a defensive back to cover him.”
Wannstedt did admit that Gesicki may lack in the blocking department, an aspect of a tight end’s game that is important to McDaniel, but Wannstedt gave an example from his coaching days to show what the new coach can do with his tight end.
“Okay, so maybe they say he’s not a great blocker,” Wannstedt said. “That was the first thing that came to my mind. When we won the Super Bowl in Dallas, we had Jay Novacek. I think Jay was about 210 pounds and he wasn’t gonna block anybody, but Norv Turner did things with him scheme-wise to make it work. He was blocking down and stalk-blocking, so we found ways because he was too valuable as a receiver for us.”
At this point in time, Gesicki is the best tight end on Miami’s roster, and he can be a great playmaker in the passing game. McDaniel and his staff will just have to find a way to make it work in 2022, and then they can reevaluate heading into another free agent year for the Penn State product.
