Gesicki soars, but can he block?
DAVIE — The temptation is going to be there for Adam Gase, as it would be for any coach. Mike Gesicki is not
Julius Thomas, he’s not Jordan Cameron and instead he’s an actual vertical, seam, red zone, all-around offensive threat.
But what if he misses a block? What if he misses a key block and Ryan Tannehill goes down, and the Miami Dolphins season is over, before it begins?
“You want to earn the trust of people,” Gesicki said Tuesday. “You just have to go out
and do the right things.”
Gesicki wants to do the right
things. And sometimes it looks oh, so good.
Gase is going to have to decide how much to play Gesicki, and when to play Gesicki, and yes, how much to trust Gesicki, a rookie tight end, not to screw up.
“You want to start off with, ‘Do they know what to do?’” Gase said Tuesday. “Are they trying to use the right technique? And then it’s, ‘Can you do it or not?’ I think that’s where our adjustments have to come in as coaches to where if a guy can’t do a certain thing, let’s not ask him to do a thing he’s really going to have problems with.”
Ah, rookies.
Gesicki was drafted in the second round because he’s 6-foot-6 and 245 pounds and he jumps through the roof and into the sky. And well, sometimes it looks like he could continue right on to outer space.
The dilemma was fully presented in a brief portion of the 11th Dolphins training camp practice on Tuesday.
There was Gesicki, leaping high into the sky, contorting his body, using it as a shield, showing great hands, and coming down with a touchdown pass over classmate Minkah Fitzpatrick.
“I know the highest point I can get it at is higher than anybody else on the field,” Gesicki, the former volleyball player, said. “So if it’s up there high enough, nobody else can. That’s my mindset. A lot of people call it 50-50 balls. But for me, it’s all or nothing. It’s 100 percent. It’s me or nobody.”
Ah, the Jersey swag. He’s from New Jersey. He’s got swag. But every now and then, he’s exposed as a rook. Dolphins’ defensive coordinator Matt Burke blitzes Gesicki in practice. A lot. They’re hoping it will help. They’re hoping he’ll improve.
He was drafted to catch touchdowns, but what if he can’t block!
A few plays later, the problem. Gesicki is left holding his hands on his helmet because he missed a blitzing Fitzpatrick (payback’s a bleep) and Tannehill would have been crushed.
The preseason hasn’t even started yet. Can Gase trust Gesicki to make that play in the season opener against a blitzing Tennessee Titans safety?
“I’m trying to make my weaknesses my strengths, too,” Gesicki said.
Gase knows he needs to score more in 2018. Gase knows Tannehill hasn’t had a tight end with Gesicki’s skills since, well, maybe ever.
Gase also knows it’s a safer play to have savvy veteran MarQueis Gray on the field, all the time. It’s probably a safer play to have A.J. Derby on the field. And it may even be a safer play to have rookie tight end Durham Smythe, a blocking specialist, on the field instead of Gesicki.
But, oh, that temptation. Would Gase trust rookie running back Kalen Ballage, if there was an unfortunate injury to Kenyan Drake or Frank Gore?
Would Gase trust rookie linebacker Jerome Baker, if something were to happen to Kiko Alonso?
Would Gase actually trust a rookie kicker, with the game tied in overtime? (He may have to, if that’s what special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi highly, highly recommends).
Would Ballage miss a block? Drake is a much better blocker now than he was a rookie. Why? He knows what to do. And he knows he can do it better.
“I think it comes down to the reps in practice,” Gase said. “Plus the preseason games. Keep evaluating. We might end up crossing things off the list eventually. We want to get more into games.”
Gesicki is a willing blocker. Everyone knows that’s not what he was brought here to do. But there are going to be times where the defense shifts in such a way that he has no choice but to go mano-a-mano.
Gesicki is a strong dude. He wants to be physical. He wants to do a good enough job. He’ll do everything he can to keep Tannehill from being destroyed.
But he might not be able to help it. He’s a rook. He has this preseason to prove to Gase, and his teammates, that yes, he can be trusted, to be on the field all the time.
“Know your assignment,” Gesicki said. “Know your role. Be accountable. And just go out and make plays when it’s your time. When the ball’s in the air, go make the play. When it’s your block, go make the block. Whatever it is. If I’m running down on kickoff. If I’m on kickoff return. Wing on field goal. Or catch a touchdown.
“When I first got here, my mindset was, ‘Don’t make a mistake.’ And now it’s just go do what I do and go make plays.”