Who’s the better tight end: Gesicki or Goedert? The stats might surprise you.
Among Sunday’s many story lines for Dolphins-Eagles:
What could have been vs. what is.
Or put another way, Dallas Goedert vs. Mike Gesicki.
The tight end the Dolphins passed on in 2018 against the one they took.
For a while, it was hardly a debate. Goedert scored eight touchdowns in his first NFL 25 games — or eight more than Gesicki scored his first 26.
Gesicki finally got off the schneid in Cleveland on Sunday, catching an 11-yard pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick in the end zone early in the second half.
It was a special moment for Gesicki, and the first of what he hopes of many.
“It was fun,” said Gesicki, who kept the ball for his trophy case. “It was cool for the time being, for that play. Going out and getting the opportunity. I think that’s the most important part for me, having the opportunity to go out and make a play in the end zone. It’s been quite awhile.”
How long? Two years, nearly to the day. His last touchdown came in Penn State’s 2017 regular-season finale.
But a couple of bits of perspective before making too sweeping of a judgment on the Dolphins’ choice of Gesicki over Goedert:
1. Nobody has really scored touchdowns for the Dolphins the past two years, so Gesicki’s drought was as much an indictment on his teammates as it was on him.
2. Touchdowns aside, the Gesicki-Goedert comparison is actually very close.
In fact, they each has 31 catches this season — tied for second behind Baltimore’s Mark Andrews among second-year tight ends — and Gesicki actually has more receiving yards (322) than his Philly-based contemporary (289).
Gesicki has really come on lately, catching three or more passes in each of his past four games after accomplishing that feat just seven times in his first 23. And as his impact on the game has grown, so has his confidence.
“It should, because he’s done some things positive on the field, and I know that one of the things that you gain confidence in is when your other teammates and coaches have confidence in you,” Dolphins offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea said. “Certainly, that’s the case with Mike right now, is that the quarterback has confidence in him, the coaching staff has confidence in him, his teammates do, and he’s earned that over time here [because] of his work ethic in practice and really investing a lot of time with [Ryan Fitzpatrick] to being on the same page, and I think it’s really been reflective in his play here recently.”
Fitzpatrick winning back the Dolphins’ starting job might have been the best thing to happen to Gesicki’s career. The Dolphins’ oldest player has become close with one of the Dolphins’ youngest, and Fitzpatrick believes that chemistry has translated into on-field production.
“From training camp to now and even the beginning of the season to now, he’s worked extremely hard,” Fitzpatrick said. “Playing tight end, playing receiver, it’s very difficult as a young guy to come in and understand all the nuances to the positions. I think he has shown great growth, even not from last year, but from when I first saw him to now.”
Gesicki has played tight end and receiver this year, serving as the Dolphins’ de facto slot after a bunch of injuries depleted the position.
O’Shea hopes that one touchdown will snowball into several during the season’s final few games. It would help in many ways if so.
The Dolphins have been in evaluation mode all season, but now with the playoffs officially out of reach, it’s doubly important for the club to identify players they want as part of the future.
“Like I just said, for a long time, I’ve said it’s about opportunities. you’ve got to make the most of it when it comes,” Gesicki said. “If it does come in bunches, and there are more opportunities, I’ve just got to be ready.”
This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 3:59 PM.
