I think you guys are all rushing to judgement before the evidence Is in. I thought that with Xavien Howard and was right. Just like I had belief in Howard when everyone was calling him a bust and a dumb draft move to move up and get him, I held the faith because I knew that it takes a while for press-man corners to adapt to the NFL.
Similarly, TE's take a while to adapt to the NFL. Even the very few exceptions to that rule will tell you that. Gronkowski was out his entire senior season with a back injury … so he had plenty of time to study, rest, and prepare for the NFL, and it helped his transition. Jimmy Graham--the best corollary for Mike Gesicki--will tell you that he ran around not knowing what he was doing as a rookie, and Drew Brees just made it work as he endured a painful growth curve during a super-successful rookie season. But even then, Graham was not asked to block at all. He was just struggling with the receiver portion of the job.
For everyone criticizing Adam Gase for Gesicki's development, I wholeheartedly disagree. I praise Gase for developing Gesicki into a full-service, well-rounded TE. Gase was trying to make Gesicki the next Gronkowski, not the next Jimmy Graham, and for that I applaud him. Gase stressed the grunt work of the blocking and insisted that Gesicki get that down before he was given many snaps as a receiving TE. It worked. Gesicki, who had not really even tried as a blocker in college, suddenly put in a lot of effort and improved significantly. He didn't become a good blocker overnight or anything, but he definitely improved. Adam Gase took a long term view of the player, and IMHO, that is the right approach. Gase fully expected to be leading the dolphins in 2019, when I think we will see Gesicki start to blossom.
As a receiving TE, Gesicki's head was spinning, as the information overload did to him what it does to almost every rookie TE, crams so much information into his head he is constantly thinking rather than instinctively acting/reacting. This means that his playspeed appears slow, despite his physical ability being extremely fast. It manifests itself in indecision rather than confidence, which translates to dropped passes and poor route running. We saw that from Mike in 2018 … and it was 100% typical of a rookie TE. But, as he learns the techniques so that they feel instinctual, learns the playbook so that he is merely acting and letting his natural athletic ability take over, and gains confidence so that he takes charge of what's happening rather than simply trying to keep up and make the right decision … we will see the player we drafted.
Remember, Mike Gesicki came to Penn State as a WR, so becoming a TE was new to him and blocking was something he rarely concentrated on doing. He wasn't asked to do it very often, so much of that required him to learn new things and practice a new way. He embraced it, and improved. As a freshman at Penn State he had bad hands, he dropped too many passes, and the fans let him know it. He vowed to improve, and by his last season he entered the draft as the TE with the highest percentage of catches per target. That means he had the best hands of all the TE's entering the draft … yes, that includes Dallas Goedert.
So why did Gesicki drop passes as a rookie? Because he wasn't playing at full speed with confidence. Rather, he was trying to decipher the play, concentrating on the route, and trying not to screw those things up, and when the ball came, he lacked the confidence to out-muscle DB's for the ball, despite having the physical ability to do so. It's normal, and to be expected. It is also something we expect to be fixed by year 2 or 3. Learning a new scheme this year will delay that learning curve a bit, but at some point this season I expect to see Mike Gesicki prove he was the clear best TE in that draft, and an excellent draft pick. He has the work ethic and elite athletic ability to become a dominant Jimmy Graham type TE, and I expect him to become that player as he lives up to his potential.
People criticizing Mike Gesicki now are rushing to judgement, IMHO. By the time his rookie contract ends I'm confident that we'll be super-excited about his play and very hopeful of re-signing him long term. But, the TE position takes time. It's not one of those positions like RB, where everything in college just translates. The TE position is ten times harder in the NFL than what is asked of TE's in college … and that takes time.
