TheRevoltingBlob
Club Member
I hope Smythe being listed at starting tight end simply means that we've realized that Gesicki is really a slot WR. Last year he lined up in the slot on 66% of his plays anyway. We are weak at WR depth and it is pointless to put him as an in-line TE anyway because he can't block. I think he was miscast as a player on the 33% of plays that we lined him up as a traditional TE.
But he is actually very effective if you simply look at him as a slot receiver. Among players that had a minimum of 200 plays in the slot, he ranked 11th in completions, 17th in yards, and 4th in TD's. He was the only "Tight End" in the league to even rank in the top 20 in yards from the slot. And he showed a clear improvement over the season, so I'm sure those numbers would look even better if we only took into account what he did after our 0-7 start.
Imagine a starting wide receiver core of 6'3 Devante Parker, 6'5 Preston Williams, and 6'6 Mike Gesicki. It might not be the fastest group, but all of them run in the 4.5 range, which is great for their size. I think this would work well for Fitzpatrick's style, but I also don't buy the narrative that Tua only works well with smaller YAC specialists.
Those might have simply been the types of players he had to work with at Bama. Jeudy, Smith, Ruggs, and Waddle simply just fit that archetype. But in 2018 when he had a big target TE in Irv Smith (who only ran a 4.63), he put up 710 yards and 7 TD's, even amongst all those other Bama weapons.
Tua is simply accurate as hell and I think his ball placement can both allow recievers to catch without losing speed and be used in contested catch situations. It's also not like we don't have guys that would be rotating in that do fit the YAC archetype.
I just really hope Gesicki doesn't get pigeonholed as a backup TE just because that is the position he has been labeled as. We've had so many discussions over whether Grant, Ford, Perry, or Bowden can man our slot position, but I think Gesicki is the best player for the starting job.
But he is actually very effective if you simply look at him as a slot receiver. Among players that had a minimum of 200 plays in the slot, he ranked 11th in completions, 17th in yards, and 4th in TD's. He was the only "Tight End" in the league to even rank in the top 20 in yards from the slot. And he showed a clear improvement over the season, so I'm sure those numbers would look even better if we only took into account what he did after our 0-7 start.
Imagine a starting wide receiver core of 6'3 Devante Parker, 6'5 Preston Williams, and 6'6 Mike Gesicki. It might not be the fastest group, but all of them run in the 4.5 range, which is great for their size. I think this would work well for Fitzpatrick's style, but I also don't buy the narrative that Tua only works well with smaller YAC specialists.
Those might have simply been the types of players he had to work with at Bama. Jeudy, Smith, Ruggs, and Waddle simply just fit that archetype. But in 2018 when he had a big target TE in Irv Smith (who only ran a 4.63), he put up 710 yards and 7 TD's, even amongst all those other Bama weapons.
Tua is simply accurate as hell and I think his ball placement can both allow recievers to catch without losing speed and be used in contested catch situations. It's also not like we don't have guys that would be rotating in that do fit the YAC archetype.
I just really hope Gesicki doesn't get pigeonholed as a backup TE just because that is the position he has been labeled as. We've had so many discussions over whether Grant, Ford, Perry, or Bowden can man our slot position, but I think Gesicki is the best player for the starting job.
Last edited:
