Gesicki is a Patriot

Ugh...this one hurts.

The New England Patriots have agreed to a one-year deal with free-agent tight end Mike Gesicki that is worth up to $9 million, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter and Field Yates.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35879064/sources-patriots-agree-ex-dolphins-te-mike-gesicki

agree that it sucks, but i think Gesicki's camp over-estimated his market value. a one year deal with incentives only up to $9M was far less (in years and money) than what they've been hoping to get from Miami (hence the Phins having to use the one year, $11M last year). i guess the reality is that teams don't want to overpay for a big (relatively slow) in-line WR who doesn't block. he does from being Smythe's backup to Hunter Henry's backup. i still think he had more redzone value than what we saw last year, but overall he just isn't a fit.

now i'm hoping he has a nice season - except for 2 particular games - but knowing the Phins' luck, he'll have career games in those 2 and do nothin' else all year.

DISGUSTING!!! REVOLTING!!! UTTERLY NAUSEATING!!!

Incentives could be Hard to meet with Jones at Qb. I hope his Season is Good except when Playing us. Seems like the Pats & Us have this Thing of Swapping Players EVERY YEAR.

I'm furious with this move. My favorite player going to the hated Pats. Drafted and top exciting player in recent years thrown to the trash.

Yeah this is not good, but unless Zappe steps up or the Pats make a QB change....

Don't the Pats still have those two big money TEs they signed awhile ago?

Some great off-season moves and I will be excited once the season starts but this one hurts. I will be sicked by this move for a while. I was really hoping he went to the Giants just because it's his hometown NFC team.

Morestead to the Jets feels like even more of a betrayal IMO. It really goes to show these guys really don't care about anything but money. There's literally no other reason for anybody in today's world to make a deliberate choice to change residences from Florida to New Jersey/New York.

finfanatic wrote:

Don't the Pats still have those two big money TEs they signed awhile ago?

They still have Hunter Henry, but this offseason they traded Johnnu Smith. Henry has been OK, but Smith was a complete free agent bust for the Pats.

The Patriots WR corps sucks, so Gesicki may get a lot of targets as a slot receiver.

I guess it all comes down to where we finish in the post-season but I fear the Pats will have a pro-bowl TE and Miami will have a lost in the shuffle blocking TE.

JEGnj wrote:I guess it all comes down to where we finish in the post-season but I fear the Pats will have a pro-bowl TE and Miami will have a lost in the shuffle blocking TE.

We'll see.  As much as I like him, Gesicki really didn't offer much in the McDaniel offense.  I think Saubert can come close to matching his production as a receiver, and bring much more as a blocker.  It'll be interesting to see how Gesicki does in the new Patriots offense.  My guess is they will use him the old Aaron Hernandez role, and he could do very well there, but can Mac Jones get him the ball?

It makes more sense to have a Gesicki on the Patriots, to be honest.

They don't have anyone at WR even close to what we have with Hill and Waddle. There's only so many "targets" to go around.

Yes, a TE is a good weapon in the red zone. So is running the ball. I think McDaniel wants to build a team that can run it in. That means priority on blocking TE, not pass catching.

Anyways. With the total dearth of talent at WR in NE, I agree, Gesicki will likely turn into one of Mac Jones favored weapons. Let's also acknowledge, they have a legit grown-up OC in OBrien now. Not the trainwreck they tried to use last season.

That said, we now have Fangio coaching our defense. So no matter what OBrien comes up with, Fangio will find the flaws and exploit them. I still think we have the advantage. But, I do expect the New England offense to be better in 2023 than they were last year.

white1 wrote:I do expect the New England offense to be better in 2023 than they were last year.

O'Brien alone should make a big difference, but IMO they are weak at OL and WR, and I think losing RB Damien Harris is potentially big. The big question, though, is Mac Jones. He played decent as a rookie when he had all day to throw, a killer run game, and wide open receivers. Last season the OL wasn't as good and the receivers couldn't get open, and Jones was not very good. So, we'll see.

I will say this: I'd love to see the Patriots finish in third in the East, ahead of the Jets! I'm so sick of hearing the Aaron Rodgers talk.

Not me, Belicheat needs as few wins as possible, too close to Shula's record. 3-14 or 2-15 sounds about right for the Patsies to me.

HalCHorn wrote:Not me, Belicheat needs as few wins as possible, too close to Shula's record.  3-14 or 2-15 sounds about right for the Patsies to me.

Yeah, very true, and I sure wouldn't cry if that happened! But I just want to see the Jets fall apart after getting Rodgers...assuming they even get Rodgers at this point.

JMP wrote:

HalCHorn wrote:Not me, Belicheat needs as few wins as possible, too close to Shula's record.  3-14 or 2-15 sounds about right for the Patsies to me.

Yeah, very true, and I sure wouldn't cry if that happened!  But I just want to see the Jets fall apart after getting Rodgers...assuming they even get Rodgers at this point.

Now, now... let's just agree to a compromise, phellow Phin Phans.

The Jets go 3-14 and the Pats go 2-15.

Or vice versa.



I would DEARLY love to see the Jets pay A A Ron a pile of loot and then have them be also rans in the AFC East. Probably not gonna happen, but...
The Pack hasn't done too well WITH AA Ron at QB either, so...

The Pats without Brady just ain't the same. Brady was a wonderful deodorant for the Pats lack of ability to draft a WR.

So we shall see, but maybe we see both AFC East franchises drafting in the top ten next year.

That would be a wonderful schadenfreude moment for me I know!!

finfanatic wrote:
Now, now... let's just agree to a compromise, phellow Phin Phans.

The Jets go 3-14 and the Pats go 2-15.

Or vice versa.

FF for the win!!!

finfanatic wrote:I would DEARLY love to see the Jets pay A A Ron a pile of loot and then have them be also rans in the AFC East. Probably not gonna happen, but...
The Pack hasn't done too well WITH AA Ron at QB either, so...

The Jets getting Rodgers would be interesting for sure. While he will make them better, the question is how much better? Looking at their roster now, I see an incomplete WR corps, questionable RB position, weak TE position, and mediocre (at best) OL. I also question their "great" defense, considering that they feasted on backup QBs last season. Of course, they can get better through the draft and if they ever do anything in free agency, but as of now I think I see a .500 team.

The other factor is: the Jets have a young offense, and over the past 2 years we've learned that Rodgers does not like working with young players. How is that going to work out? And what role will the New York media play???

JMP wrote:The Jets getting Rodgers would be interesting for sure.

so this might be an oblivious question, but does the Jets pursuit of Rodgers mean they have officially given up up on Zach Wilson? i mean yes, he hasn't played particularly well, but giving up on the #2 overall draft pick after only 22 games seems a little quick. especially considering the Jets have defacto blamed the offensive issues on LaFluer with his firing. and if you do pick a QB number 2 overall and are done with him after only 2 partial seasons, how does your GM (Joe Douglas) still have a job after a blunder like that? i guess i shouldn't really be concerned - anything bad for the Jets makes me happy.

mercury22nathan wrote:

JMP wrote:The Jets getting Rodgers would be interesting for sure.

so this might be an oblivious question, but does the Jets pursuit of Rodgers mean they have officially given up up on Zach Wilson?  i mean yes, he hasn't played particularly well, but giving up on the #2 overall draft pick after only 22 games seems a little quick.  especially considering the Jets have defacto blamed the offensive issues on LaFluer with his firing.  and if you do pick a QB number 2 overall and are done with him after only 2 partial seasons, how does your GM (Joe Douglas) still have a job after a blunder like that?  i guess i shouldn't really be concerned - anything bad for the Jets makes me happy.

My take is that the pursuit of Rodgers is, in part, designed to make Wilson better. Rodgers and Wilson are actually friends, and I think the Jets hope that watching and being around Rodgers will have a positive impact on Wilson. Rodgers is probably only going to be there for a year, so I'm guessing the Jets hope they'll get to see Zach play in 2024 (his 4th year) so they can decide whether or not to exercise his 5th year option. I think the team feels that Wilson still has upside.

AND...

If this Rodgers deal falls through, I do think there's a good chance that Zach Wilson is the starter in 2023. There's really not many other options available, unless they decide to trade for Matthew Stafford.

New reports indicate that the Patriots wanted Gesicki to be more of a receiver, as New England looks to open up the offense under offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien.

A source said Gesicki isn’t expected to meet with wide receivers, but “he won’t be asked to do typical tight end blocking assignments either.”

That’s certainly sounds a little bit different from how he was used by McDaniel in Miami, when he lined up inline on 33 percent of snaps. That was up from 12 percent in 2021, 19.6 percent in 2020 and 22.7 percent in 2019. Gesicki played 59.7 percent of his snaps inline as a rookie in 2018.

https://sports.yahoo.com/patriots-could-mike-gesicki-way-135719766.html

i wonder how much of it is he can't block versus he just doesn't want to. i mean really, after five seasons in the league you'd think he could kind of figure out how to at least block a little bit.

[quote="mercury22nathan"]

i wonder how much of it is he can't block versus he just doesn't want to.  i mean really, after five seasons in the league you'd think he could kind of figure out how to at least block a little bit.  

I saw no indication of it last year in the games I watched.

Gesicki made me get sicki ever time he tried to block!

:puke:

I'd be curious to know how much Gesicki was actually asked to blocked this season. Sure, he was inline a lot - but that doesn't necessarily mean he was being tasked with blocking on every one of those snaps. A lot of times his assignment may have been a quick chip on a defender while running a pass route - that's not really "blocking".

In New England, as I've said elsewhere, I think Gesicki will play the old Aaron Hernandez role. Hernandez was essentially a receiver - he rarely blocked as I recall.

curious stat...

Per ESPN’s Mike Clay, the Dolphins passed the ball on 83 percent of the snaps that Mike Gesicki played, which was fourth highest among all NFL players, minimum 100 snaps.

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article273955040.html

and yet despite this way pass heavy skew, Gesicki was not very often the targeted beneficiary of those pass plays.

and of course, we could try to rationalize this dearth of opportunities by saying that McDaniel's offense doesn't really utilize a receiving TE (especially with Hill and Waddle), but then way would they...

But the Dolphins reportedly sought to improve the [TE] position group last year, too.

Agent Drew Rosenahus, speaking on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday, said the Dolphins were in negotiations with the Las Vegas Raiders to trade for tight end Darren Waller last offseason. Rosenhaus said the Green Bay Packers were also in talks to acquire the Pro Bowler. Las Vegas ultimately retained Waller and gave him a new deal in September 2022 that made him the league’s highest-paid tight end. The Raiders traded Waller to the New York Giants last month.

Though Rosenahus did not divulge when the trade discussions took place, it’s notable not only because of Waller’s reputation as one of the best players at his position but because the Dolphins placed the franchise tag on fellow tight end Mike Gesicki on March 8.

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article274029585.html

clearly, it was more than just Geiscki's inability to block or lack of TE use in McDaniels scheme, if they were willing to give up assets to get pass catching TE Waller. McDaniel must've really, really not liked Gesicki if he couldn't find a role for him last season after all this.

I heard about that trade attempt for Waller as well. Water under the bridge now as far as I'm concerned. Anyone else ever get the sense that the media hates this team for never trading for players THEY (media) want them to?

I still say the moment Grier drafted Long was the first sign Gesicki was out the door, and that whatever turn of events began the end of his time in Miami occurred prior to that draft. I've said for years how obvious it was to me that Long was intended all along to be Gesicki's replacement.

I'm not sure I believe the Waller rumor, considering that he is almost an exact replica of Gesicki - but older and with an injury history, and with more YAC ability.

I think McDaniel's view of the offense changed as soon the team added Hill. The Hill-Waddle combo pretty much ensures that passing targets will be limited for every other receiving option on the team.