2021 NFL Draft Guide Player Profiles: Mike Gesicki
Published: Aug 05, 2021
Miami tight end Mike Gesicki enjoyed the beloved third year breakout. In 15 games, he caught 53 of 85 targets for 703 yards and six touchdowns. His reception, yardage and touchdown numbers were all career-bests. The flip-flopping at quarterback didn’t affect him too terribly much, as he posted a fantasy total within the top 24 at his position 75 percent of the time last year, per RotoViz. Now, outside of his big game against Buffalo in Week 2, it was a pretty slow start for Gesicki, as he topped 10 fantasy points just one other time through the first 11 weeks of the season. However, down the stretch, he was quite solid.
In PPR formats last year, Gesicki was the TE7 overall. Over the final six weeks of the year, he was the TE4 and averaged just under 16 fantasy points per game. Here is where Gesicki ranked amongst other tight ends with at least 50 targets on the year, per RotoViz:
- T-1st in air yards per target
- 3rd in air yards
- 3rd in AirYAC
- 4th in yards per reception
- 6th in yards per target
- 7th in WOPR
Gesicki was one of just five tight ends with at least 80 targets and 700 receiving yards in 2020, which is impressive in its own right. However, I’ll take it a step further. Of those five, only Kansas City’s Travis Kelce had a higher yards per reception mark than Gesicki, and only Darren Waller and Kelce had more air yards at the position, per RotoViz.
On a week-to-week basis, Gesicki has struggled with consistency in the early parts of his career. He had three big games that contributed to a good chunk of his fantasy points last year. His 20+ point performances in Week 2, Week 13 and Week 14 represented 46.7 percent of his total fantasy output for the entire year. Outside of those three games, he had just two games with double-digit fantasy points, and a whopping nine games with less than 10 points.
Unlike 2020, he won’t have Ryan Fitzpatrick waiting to save Tua Tagovailoa after a rough day. How will Gesicki fare with a full year of Tua at the helm? Well, last year, in Chan Gailey’s offensive system, if you were starting Gesicki, you wanted Fitzpatrick under center, because he made it happen downfield.
| AYA | Yards per Reception | Completion Percentage | |
| Fitzpatrick to Gesicki | 8.69 | 16.5 | 57.1% |
| Tagovailoa to Gesicki | 7.51 | 10.6 | 67.4% |
Courtesy of Pro Football Reference
George Godsey and Eric Studesville will be co-offensive coordinators in 2021 for the Dolphins, and that should be an improvement compared to Chan Gailey, who had Tagovailoa on two sets of training wheels. Studesville has never been an offensive coordinator whereas Godsey was the offensive coordinator for Houston in 2015 and 2016, when Houston ran its infamous quarterback carousel in 2015, and then had the very tall and very bad Brock Osweiler in 2016. The passing yards weren’t there for Houston those years, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying, as they ranked ninth and 14th in passing attempts in 2015 and 2016 respectively. If Godsey led Houston to being league average in passing attempts with the horrendous Osweiler under center, what could be with Tagovailoa who has a decent arm?
For Gesicki’s sake, both C.J. Fiedorowicz and Ryan Griffin had 50+ catches that year for the Texans under Godsey, and Houston tight ends commanded a league-high 31 percent target share, per Sharp Football Stats. A good tight end in Godsey’s system can go a long way, especially with weapons on the outside, which Miami has.
Godsey and Studesville have to be an improvement upon Chan Gailey and Miami made a concerted effort to boost the weapons around its potential franchise quarterback. Targets will be tougher to come by for Gesicki in 2021, as the team signed Will Fuller in free agency and drafted Jaylen Waddle in the first round. Both of those receivers are far from safe bets though, as Fuller’s injury history is well-documented and Waddle is dealing with an ankle issue dating back to his time at Alabama.
Per NFFC data, Gesicki is the 12th tight end off the board and that's a great price point for him. Yes, competitions can be tougher to come by this year, but Godsey likes an athletic tight end, and the Miami receivers haven’t always exactly had a clean bill of health. He can very easily be your team’s TE1, but there might be some inconsistency in his performances over the course of the season.
Statistical Credits:
Rotoviz.com
Sharpfootballstats.com
Nfc.shgn.com/adp/football
Player News
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ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports that Grant will sign his contract today. The former Michigan defensive tackle is expected to fill a major void left by Christian Wilkins, who left for the Raiders in the 2024 offseason. Grant totaled 32 tackles, three sacks, and seven TFLs in his final season at Michigan and excelled at stopping the run while also generating 27 pressures in his final season, per PFF.
Beat reporter John Hendrix reports that free agent WR Donovan Peoples-Jones is among the 16 players that the Saints will host for their rookie minicamp.
Peoples-Jones last played regular season snaps with the Lions back in 2023, when he caught 13-of-24 targets for 155 yards. He is highly unlikely to return to fantasy relevance at this point but could perhaps sign on as a special teams contributor.
Titans signed fourth-round pick WR Elic Ayomanor to a four-year contract.
Ayomanor will now begin learning behind Calvin Ridley. Although Ayomanor is unlikely to find a meaningful role in year one, dynasty managers should note his status as training camp gets underway this summer. The former Stanford receiver flashed big-play ability in his two college seasons.
Buccaneers signed seventh-round pick WR Tez Johnson to a four-year contract.
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Giants waived DT Casey Rogers.
Rogers was a 2024 undrafted free agent and logged 33 defensive snaps for the Giants in his rookie season. He is credited with zero tackles and/or sacks. He may find his way onto another roster as a practice squad option.
Vikings signed third-round pick WR Tai Felton to a four-year contract.
Felton is quietly in play to challenge Vikings No. 3 WR Jalen Nailor in training camp. Nailor (5'11/190) caught 28-of-42 targets for 414 yards and six touchdowns in his first season as a starter last year, with the latter category buoying his fantasy productivity. Felton (6'1/183), meanwhile, caught 96-of-143 targets for 1,119 yards and nine touchdowns while averaging 2.32 yards per route run in his final college season. Fantasy managers should monitor Felton’s training camp reports this summer, as he could have a matchup-based WR5 role if everything falls into place.