Twelve months ago, Miami Dolphins tight end Mike Gesicki was yet another question mark for a team that was filled with them. The Dolphins made Gesicki their second-round choice in the 2018 NFL Draft, only for his play to fall flat as a rookie in Miami’s uninspiring offensive attack. But throughout the course of the 2019 season, the light came on for Gesicki and now the third-year player enters 2020 as Miami’s second-best option in the passing game behind WR DeVante Parker.
Amid some of the personnel changes the Dolphins will be forced to take in stride as they now prep to play 2020 without WRs Allen Hurns and Albert Wilson, Gesicki appears primed to be a big winner in both the opportunities he will see in the passing game and the data overlap between 2019 and how Miami is expected to play ball in 2020.
First, one must look at where Mike Gesicki was able to win most in 2019. According to a slew of resources, the former Penn State tight end checked a ton of boxes working from the slot as a receiver.
- Gesicki was 1st in routes run from the slot amongst NFL tight ends in 2019 by more than 100 routes.
- Gesicki was tied for 2nd in the NFL with catches from the slot per game amongst NFL tight ends in 2019 (trailing only Baltimore’s Mark Andrews) with 2.2.
- Gesicki was 4th in the NFL in receiving yards from the slot amongst NFL tight ends in 2019 with 382 yards. That figure trailed only Mark Andrews, Travis Kelce and Jared Cook.
- 72% of Gesicki’s snaps last season were credited as coming in the slot.
Now, take all of these data points and consider that the Dolphins, who are expected to run predominantly 11 personnel and implement a ton of spacing concepts, just lost their top two options to play in the slot between Hurns and Wilson. Gesicki is a very different kind of slot threat, but he’s a slot threat who is potentially the last man standing among established threats in the middle of the field from last year’s team. The departure of Hurns and Wilson for 2020 opens up 76 targets from last season coming from the area of the field that Gesicki thrived the most.
The math is simple. Gesicki wins in the slot and the Dolphins are going to have more opportunities in the slot this season — which means you should be buying high on Gesicki’s momentum from 2019 rolling into 2020. And then some.