This offseason, the Miami Dolphins were faced with the difficult decision of what to do with Mike Gesicki.
The Penn State product was set to be an unrestricted free agent at the start of the league year, and the Dolphins would’ve lost him to another team for nothing. Instead, general manager Chris Grier placed the franchise tag on Gesicki, which meant he was given a one-year deal that was fully guaranteed at $10.9 million.
However, with franchise tags, the two sides can still work out a long-term deal until July 15. For Gesicki and the Dolphins, it doesn’t appear like that’s going to happen.
According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, they “have not really engaged in contract negotiations.”
While this would generally be a bad sign for their future together, this scenario seems to make a bit more sense.
The Dolphins have a new head coach in Mike McDaniel entering the organization with his own offensive system. That system has been known to rely heavily on the tight end playing in-line, which is not exactly Gesicki’s forte.
It’s understandable for the team to want to see what the player can do in the system before they offer him a long-term deal.
From Gesicki’s standpoint, he obviously wants that security, but he hasn’t said anything that seems like he’s upset.
Earlier in the offseason, he was asked about negotiations, and he was very cordial.
“I am absolutely open to negotiation, but not really up to me, as a lot of this is not,” he said. “I just kind of go with the flow if they reach out, my agent will be listening… I have a good relationship with Chris [Grier] and Brandon [Shore], and this new coaching staff – maybe that has something to do with it… I’m just going to go back out there and continue to do what I do, continue to improve and make plays and help this team win football games and eventually get compensated for it.”
If Gesicki plays well in McDaniel’s system, there should be nothing stopping the team from giving him that long-term deal that pays him close to the top of the market.
