Mike Gesicki's Contract Status and Busy Offseason

It was quite the offseason for Miami Dolphins tight end Mike Gesicki, and the highlight was his wedding to his girlfriend Halle and subsequent honeymoon in Bora Bora.

It was while he was in Bora Bora that Gesicki got word from his agent that the Dolphins were putting the franchise tag on him before he was set to hit the free agent market.

The perfect wedding gift from the Dolphins, though, would have been a long-term extension.

There's still time to get that done because the deadline for franchise tag players to sign extensions is July 15, and that's clearly what Gesicki wants — it's pretty much what every pending free agent wants, as opposed to the franchise tag.

“I mean, I don’t think like anybody across the league would be mad about a situation where you get to come back, you’re obviously getting an increase in financial purposes and all that kind of stuff," Gesicki said. "It’s not obviously not the goal, the end-all, be-all goal. It’s definitely more team-friendly than it is player-friendly. But just giving me more reasons to come back here, continue to work hard and continue to be motivated and get back to work and help this team win football games and hopefully eventually get what I deserve moving forward.”

Gesicki Focused on the Present

As much as he wants that long-term contract, Gesicki is ready to attack the present — and that started with him signing the tag and showing for the voluntary offseason program.

“I mean, I’m definitely playing," Gesicki said. "I’m here in OTAs. This is obviously optional, so here I am. I want to do whatever I can to help this team win football games. I’ve been here for four years. The last two years we’ve been the last team out at the end of the regular season in terms of playoffs.

"Whatever it takes to go out there and win some games, win a playoff game, get back out there and kind of get this city going in the right direction. It’s been a long time. But obviously it’s a long process and a lot of work goes into it. We’re far away from that right now, but there’s obviously the excitement. But all 32 teams are excited. It’s April.”

The franchise tag number for tight ends was a little mover $10.9 million for 2022, and that's the salary Gesicki will receive this season absent a long-term contract.

It's quite an upgrade from Gesicki's rookie contract after he was a second-round pick in 2018, which paid him $6.6 million over four years, according to spotrac.com.

It's also not quite the $18.4 million that Gesicki would have gotten had he been designated as a wide receiver for franchise tag purposes, though if there are plans for his agent to challenge his position designation — and he might have a case given how often he lined up in the slot — he wasn't letting on Wednesday.

"As of now, I’m in here, and I’m not really a big controversy guy," Gesicki said. "I’m not trying to be the guy that’s the bad locker room guy, or the guy that’s bringing the organization down or the guy that’s in the headlines for the wrong reasons. Just trying to help this team any way I can going on my fifth year."

How and Where Gesicki Found Out About Being Tagged

While the timing of his honeymoon certainly was less than ideal — imagine Gesicki becoming a free agent at the start of the market — the tight end explained he never thought about it when he and Halle got engaged in July 2020 because he figured he'd have his extension by then.

But Gesicki wasn't going to let his wedding and honeymoon take a back seat this offseason.

“It was crazy," he said. "I mean, I had a lot of fun this offseason. A lot of the focus was not football-related. A lot of the focus was on the wedding, the honeymoon and all that kind of stuff, and I made sure that Halle knew that it was focused on the wedding and the honeymoon. I wasn’t even worried about the contract. It was awesome. It was great. It was everything that I could have imagined.

"I was in Bora Bora on my honeymoon and it’s like a six-hour difference in time. It was 3 a.m., my agent texted me. He’s like, hey, they’re tagging you. I rolled over in the middle of the night, checked my phone, I got a text from my agent and I was like, OK. I also had like 100 other texts because I slept through it. It was like 4 a.m., 3 a.m. Bora Bora time and rolled over, checked my phone and knew it happened. Woke up Halle, she was all excited and went back to sleep.”

The Likelihood of a Gesicki Extension

Whether the Dolphins decide to sign Gesicki to a long-term deal remains a bit of a mystery, though the fact they haven't to this point might be telling.

And maybe the team spending a third-round pick on tight end Hunter Long in the 2021 draft also was an indication.

It's not like the Dolphins haven't given out extensions to third-year players before — they did with Jerome Baker and Jason Sanders last year.

With the return of not only Gesicki but his good friend Durham Smythe, the Dolphins are back with the same five tight ends they had on the 2021 roster — Adam Shaheen, Cethan Carter and Long are the others.

Exactly how long the Dolphins will carry five tight ends, an unusually high number particularly after the return of fullbacks on the roster, is a question without an answer at this point.

And using a third-round pick on Long just a year ago seemed to suggest the core of the group could change at some point and left Gesicki's long-term status a bit uncertain, particularly given the lack of an extension heading into his fourth year the way the Dolphins did for Jerome Baker and Jason Sanders.

But that's an issue to be addressed later.

Now that he's back in South Florida and about to wrap up Phase One of the Dolphins offseason program, Gesicki's focus is back on football.

And that's where it will stay, rather than on the possibility of a long-term contract.

“I am absolutely open to negotiation, but not really up to me, as a lot of this is not," Gesicki said. "I just kind of go with the flow. If they reach out, my agent will be listening.

“That’s up to them honestly. I have a good relationship with (GM Chris Grier) and (Senior VP Brandon Shore), and this new coaching staff maybe that has something to do with it. I’m not sure. I don’t really have all the answers, but I do know the kind of person that I am and the worker that I am. I’m just going to go back out there and continue to do what I do, continue to improve and make plays and help this team win football games and eventually get compensated for it.”