Dolphins hopeful Gesicki makes jump in year two

Some points to consider:

Gesicki’s rookie numbers (22 catches in 31 targets, 202 yards, no touchdowns) were well short of two tight ends drafted after him: Philadelphia’s Dallas Goedert (33-334, four touchdowns) and Baltimore’s Mark Andrews (34-552, three touchdowns).

Gesicki played only 45 percent of Miami’s offensive downs because of six primary reasons: 1) Blocking shortcomings. He allowed two sacks and PFF rated him 67th among 70 tight ends in blocking; 2) The Dolphins considered O’Leary a more polished and advanced all-around player, even though O’Leary allowed five sacks (most among NFL tight ends); 3) They considered since-released Derby (when healthy) better at running certain routes.

4) Smythe is a better blocker; 5) Adam Gase was surprised when opponents double-teamed Gesicki at times before he had proven anything as an NFL player. 6) When he wasn’t doubled, Gesicki wasn’t consistent enough generating separation from defensive players.

All that said, the Dolphins did see some growth. And because Allen’s strength is blocking, his addition shouldn’t dramatically affect Gesicki’s role.

“There are some things that Mike does that are special, that other guys can’t do,” Fitzpatrick said. “[But there is] a lot of room for improvement.”

Shane Day, the Dolphins tight ends coach before being replaced by George Godsey, said before departing that one challenge for Gesicki is becoming better at shaking defenders when singlecovered.

“He’s had some opportunities [last season] where he’s had man coverage and when he has man coverage, he has been open on occasion,” said Day, who’s now with the 49ers. “He has to consistently be able to do it over and over. You would see him do it in practice and you see it in games from time to time.”

Godsey makes this clear when talking about all his tight ends: “When the tight end is just three guys down the line, they have to get open. That’s part of our deal: get open and catch the ball.”

But the former staff mistakenly used Gesicki too much as a blocker. Per Dolphins blogger Chris Kouffman, Gesicki pass blocked on 19 percent of his snaps last season.

As Kouffman noted, when Godsey was in New England in 2011 and 2012, deceased former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez pass blocked only 4 percent of the time.

This was the most telling thing Godsey said this offseason: “I think the big thing is identifying their strengths and trying to use those as much [as you can], and identifying their weaknesses and trying to stay away from that as much. If there’s a tight end that maybe isn’t as good of a blocker, not that we’re not going to call on him to block, but maybe we’ll try to utilize him a little bit more in the passing game.”

So it seems likely that Gesicki won’t be asked to block as much as he did last year, and that’s a good thing.

“I think it’s a big year for him, year one to year two,” Godsey said of Gesicki. “We’re trying to see and use what he does well. As a taller, longer guy, he covers ground quickly. He might be a long strider but those strides are pretty quick. We’ll ask for him to do what he does best more frequently than the other stuff.”

Here’s the reason why the Dolphins still have hopes for Gesicki:

His receiving skills are clearly NFL caliber. “He has really good hands and really good ability to jump and go get the ball,” Day said. “It’s just learning to beat defenders off the line of scrimmage and be able to adjust to balls in the air.”

If you look at the top seven tight ends in receiving yards this season, all of them took huge jumps in year two.

Travis Kelce, who led NFL tight ends in receiving yards, went from no catches as rookie to 67 for 862 yards in year two. Zach Ertz went from 36-469 in year one to 58-702 in year two.

Jared Cook, fourth among tight ends in receptions this season, went from 9-74 to 29-351, Eric Ebron from 25-248 to 47537. Rob Gronkowski jumped from 42-556 to 90-1,327, and Jimmy Graham from 37-356 to 99-1310.

As for Allen, his run blocking last season ranked 27th among 70 qualifying tight ends, per PFF. Allen’s pass blocking would have ranked only 50th, but the Dolphins believe he’s better than that.

The signing suggests there was no conviction internally that Smythe was ready to become an elite blocker. PFF gave Allen a far better grade as a run blocker than Smythe last season but gave Smythe a far better grade as a pass blocker.

CHATTER

The Marlins’ first two draft picks (outfielders JJ Bleday and Kameron Misner) drew praise from Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. and others. “I love the kid,” former Rockies GM and MLB Network analyst Dan O’Dowd said of Bleday. “He’s a hitter that has power. He’s not a power guy that can’t hit.” MLB.com’s Jim Callis: I love this value here for the Marlins — Bleday in the first round, Misner with their second pick, two great outfielders. [Misner has] the best college body in the draft [and] best college tools in the draft . ... [He’s an] easy big-leaguer.”

The Hurricanes, eager to add quality and depth to their shaky offensive line, will host Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College offensive lineman Ousman Traore for a visit this week. He indicated he will commit this week if the visit goes well.

Gonzaga forward Brandon Clarke (an option at No. 13) and Cal State Fullerton guard Kyle Allman (17.5 points per game last season) was among those who auditioned for the Heat this week. … ESPN’s new mock draft has Miami taking Kentucky power forward PJ Washington at No. 13.