I agree! While I have no faith in Kalen Ballage as a runner, he can pass protect, catch the ball out of the backfield and contribute on 3rd downs as well as special teams. There are a lot of reasons to be excited!
In Denver we saw Gase's offense with a seam threat TE, and Mike Gesicki is going to be fantastic at that. As a chain mover, he is going to be better than Jarvis Landry was ... and I know people will hate hearing that, but by next offseason I think they will reluctantly agree. As a red zone threat, Gesicki will be dominant. I'm actually curious how DeVante Parker performs this year, because either he shows up and demands a contract extension, or Gesicki replaces him and Parker gets released. Let's hope Parker responds to the competition.
We have not had a real running game since Richie Incognito left. There, someone finally said it. While Ajayi had games of productivity, we could only open run lanes against inferior run defending teams. But, with Josh Sitton and a blossoming Jesse Davis at guards, coupled with an average Kilgore at center, we suddenly become a team that can open run lanes against most teams. This will make it easier for Tannehill to hit his passes with less DB's in coverage. Also, the improved pass protection should allow us to run deeper routes, taking advantage of the speed we seem to have everywhere in our WR's and TE now. And, with Ted Larsen healthy again and a redshirt year under Isaac Asiata's belt, hopefully we should see better consistency when we inevitably have injuries along the OL.
A team that has short DB's will face the lineup of 6'4 DeVante Parker, 6'6 Mike Gesicki, and 6'5 Durham Smythe. A team that has big DB's but lacks quickness will face a lineup of Kenny Stills, Jakeem Grant, Danny Amendola, and the guy we got form KC whose name escapes me at the moment. Tannehill is going to have at least one favorable matchup almost every play.
This is the year I'm expecting our offense to really surge forward.
