Patriots TE Mike Gesicki: 'Fired Up' to Solve Important New England Problem
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FOXBORO — While the New England Patriots offense ranked near the bottom of the NFL in several statical categories in 2022, perhaps the most egregious of their deficiencies was ranking last in the NFL in Red-Zone productivity.
Therefore, it should come as little surprise that New England has made bolstering its scoring efficiency an offseason priority.
Welcome to Foxboro, tight end Mike Gesicki.
On the surface, Gesicki's signing a one-year deal with the Pats immediately upgrades their offense. The 27-year-old is a gifted pass catcher, who has hauled in 62.4 percent of his passes, 18 of which went for touchdowns, during his five-year tenure with the Miami Dolphins. He possesses both the size and speed to be effective as a receiver out the slot, or even out wide.
It also helps that Gesicki is apparently excited to be calling New England his home for the 2023 season.
"I'm super fired up," Gesicki told Patriots.com recently. "Just know that I'm going to come in here and work hard every single day. I like to enjoy myself, so I'm going to be out there enjoying myself, having fun and doing it all with a smile on my face and excited for this upcoming season."
Not only will Gesicki have the chance to showcase his work ethic, but he will also get to finally play for new Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien.
Both Gesicki and O'Brien nearly joined forces one-decade earlier in 2013. As the nation's top high school tight end recruit, Gesicki chose Penn State, largely in part due to O'Brien's coaching style and reputation of cultivating talent at the position. However, he never got the chance to play for O’Brien, who left the University the following year to accept the head coach position for the Houston Texans.
Still, O'Brien he always remained fond of the player he will finally get the chance to coach. In fact, he was one of the first to contact Gesicki after his decision to join the Patriots was made public.
"I knew 'OB' [O'Brien] going all the way back to my high school days ... so, it was funny after we agreed on everything and he called me ten years later now," Gesicki said with a laugh. "But it's exciting to finally be able to play for him and already having those relationships formed, so I'm excited."
Logistically, Gesicki is a textbook fit in O'Brien's offense, which typically creates space and mismatches for bigger pass-catchers. Both Gesicki at 6-6, 247 and fellow tight end Hunter Henry at 6-5, 250, certainly meet the criteria. In fact, Gesicki’s ability to power his way into contested-catch situations will be particularly useful in the red zone. The Pats new tight end finished second among all tight ends in contested catches in both 2020 and 2021, earning 61 in both seasons combined.
While his prowess as an offensive target for quarterback Mac Jones is evident, Gesicki falls outside the 'Patriot prototype' in his blocking abilities. In 2022, he served as either a run blocker or pass protector on just 20.6 percent of his offensive snaps for the Dolphins.
In contrast, the recently-traded Jonnu Smith was deployed as a run blocker on 56.9 percent of his snaps in 2022. When tasked as a receiver, Smith finished the season 27 catches for 245 yards and zero touchdowns. Smith is now a member of the Atlanta Falcons, while Gesicki is a Patriot.
While his alignments will more closely resemble that of a receiver, Gesicki should be the type of complementary tight end to elevate both his and Henry's production in the Patriots' 12-personnel packages. He, alone, will not solve New England's scoring woes. However, his addition, along with that of wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, shows that a new day is coming for the Pats offense in 2023 -- one which includes finding the end zone more frequently than it did last season.
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