Monday Dolphins Notebook: Final Week of OTAs, Gesicki's Blocking, Fitz Reminisces, and More
The Miami Dolphins were back at practice Monday when they started their final week of OTAs and of the offseason program.
This was the first of four practices scheduled for this week, with the Dolphins off Wednesday but working every other day.
Practice will be open to the media Tuesday.
GESICKI BULLISH ABOUT BLOCKING
Head coach Mike McDaniel praised last week the way tight end Mike Gesicki has attacked the challenge of making himself a better blocker, and MMQB writer Albert Breer offered this nugget in his weekly NFL column.
The Dolphins have had Mike Gesicki watch tape of George Kittle as a blocker over the last couple of months — showing how far Kittle came from his rookie year to now in that area, and showing how much of a difference in made in what teams could to do to him as a receiver. And he’s been a willing pupil.
Gesicki is scheduled to play the 2022 season under the franchise tag with a contract just under $11 million.
This is what McDaniel said about him last week: "He’s been as impressive as any player on the team in terms of going after a challenge. You guys can probably rattle off the stats, but three-point (stance) wasn’t his primary position and he’s been working diligently in the run and pass game to do things that this offense can feature without taking away the stuff that has made him who he is, and there is a piece of that in the offense. We’re always tailoring what we do to the skill set of our players. He’s really attacked it with full vigor and has done a great job of working on his footwork in the run game. I’m hoping that carries over to pads when that happens in whatever month that is.”
FITZ REMINISCES
Ryan Fitzpatrick did not have a formal press conference to announce his retirement after 17 seasons in the NFL, but he did make an appearance on the Adam Schefter podcast and touched on various topics that included some Dolphins mentions.
Fitzpatrick's retirement became public when former Bills teammate Fred Jackson tweeted a picture of the text message the quarterback sent to former teammate thanking them for his NFL ride. Fitzpatrick explained he tried to get all 856 teammates he had during his 17-year career, with the names of those more prominent getting bigger type.
It was Jackson that got the biggest type, followed by former Jets center Nick Mangold. It appears (and this is not scientific) that the Dolphins teammate that got the biggest type was wide receiver DeVante Parker, who's now with New England.
During the podcast, Fitzpatrick made interesting references to former teammates Mike Gesicki and Kyle Van Noy.
"My daughters love Mike Gesicki, and they wondered why he wasn't bigger," Fitzpatrick said. "And they love Kyle van Noy, but they don't know him as Kyle van Noy. They know him as 'Angry Eyebrows.' They're looking at the list and they said, 'Dad, where is Angry Eyebrows on here?' Yeah, but I put his real name Kyle. So they were happy to see that."
Fitzpatrick also revealed he received a letter from former Dolphins running back Patrick Laird, who currently is unsigned, and an email from Gesicki's mother thanking him for his help in Gesicki's career.
Finally, Fitzpatrick ran down the 10 favorite games of his NFL career, and two of them came with the Dolphins — the 2019 season finale at New England and the 2020 wild affair at Las Vegas.
Of the 27-24 victory at New England in 2019, Fitzpatrick said, "So that was the year Miami was supposedly tanking and we started 0-7. Week 1 I'm introducing myself to people in the huddle. We lost 59-10 (against Baltimore). Week 2 we played New England, we lost 43-0. And that might have been the most fun I've ever had playing football in 2019 with that crew. So we go into New England the last week of the season. They've got to win to secure home field. We have a two-minute drive to go down and beat him at the last second, 27-24 That one was really cool."
DOLPHINS TIDBITS
-- As the Dolphins get set to wrap up their offseason program, here's a reminder they still have some unfinished business with their signings because fourth-round pick Erik Ezukanma is still without a contract. That, however, should be a formality.
-- In his weekly column for NBC Sports, Peter King suggested that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross would push the NFL for the Dolphins to host a game in Brazil or Spain in 2024. This would make sense considering the Dolphins have been approved for international marketing in those two countries along with the United Kingdom.
