The Dolphins Had A Plan At Tight End, Then Life Intervened. Here’s What’s Next. | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

The Dolphins Had A Plan At Tight End, Then Life Intervened. Here’s What’s Next.

DKphin

DKphin

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A.J. Derby is feeling better after a foot injury derailed his young season. He has missed the last three games.
Add that to MarQueis Gray’s freak Achilles injury to start the season, and the Dolphins have gotten just 94 combined snaps this year from two of their top three projected tight ends.
And the third of that trio, rookie Mike Gesicki, has caught just nine passes for 88 yards a third of the way through his rookie season.
So yeah, nothing has gone to plan
And yet, the Dolphins feel good about that position because of the out-of-nowhere emergence of Nick O’Leary, cut by the Bills in September and signed to Miami’s practice squad a few weeks later.

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article220227945.html
 
Going into the season counting on AJ Derby was the first problem. The guy has been injury prone his entire career, this was bound to happen. Then you have a blocking tight end in front of 2 rookies, it was piss poor roster management for a position that rookies always struggle with.
 
Derby was never good - not sure what he did to earn playing time. Go O’Leary.
 
I guess Smythe hasn't developed much yet.
 
Phinatic8u said:
Well he was a 4th round primary blocking TE, what really did you expect? lol
Click to expand...
Curiosity and expectations are not the same thing. I didn't expect anything of him. I was curious, though, since I haven't heard his name mentioned in a long time.

<INSERT OBLIGATORY "lol" HERE>
 
It was just one game, but I think I'd like to see O'Leary replace Gray in the long term plans. He looks like he can do all the things we though Gray was gonna do this year. Solid blocker as a TE, a good outlet with very good athleticism, and he has the ability to line up as an H-back. I have zero concern that the rookies haven't lit the world on fire. Rookie TE's don't normally produce much. And AJ Derby did look like he would be a contributor before his injury.
 
It’s amazing how this stuff comes out after the fact and the results to date are underwhelming.

It’s like clock work if somethings not playing well it was a result of not being able to implement “the plan”
 
O'Leary was a very good player at FSU, never great at anything, but good at a lot of things. I was surprised that he was cut as he seems like the player who would have a role on most teams because he can do so many things. Either way, I am glad we have picked him up.

As far a Gesicki, I was big on him, but the more I watch him the more I feel like he is never going to develop. The guy tests above everyone else at the position, yet when he runs and moves on the field, he doesn't look athletic which is weird because he seems to have all the numbers...explosive, fast, and strong, but to see him move it is like doing football things or making cuts is the most unnatural thing he has ever done.

Sorry, that is a rather poor sentence, but it is difficult to explain. I guess I am trying to say that while he seems like a freak athlete, he is not a naturally gifted move player, not smooth and almost awkward on the field.

I doubt I am making sense, but yeah.
 
Gesicki was walled off again on the only red zone y iso we ran with him.

Dude is just way too soft in his stem.

O’Leary’s h back jag surprise production all scheme driven over everything else.

Think about this. Gesicki has been so bad as a blocker they went out and signed a street free agent marginal blocker as an h back ask even to replace him so plays wouldn’t just be so ruined from the get go.
 
Aqua ‘N Orange said:
Gesicki was walled off again on the only red zone y iso we ran with him.

Dude is just way too soft in his stem.

O’Leary’s h back jag surprise production all scheme driven over everything else.

Think about this. Gesicki has been so bad as a blocker they went out and signed a street free agent marginal blocker as an h back ask even to replace him so plays wouldn’t just be so ruined from the get go.
Click to expand...

Is Gesicki a lost cause?

As I said above, he just doesn't look natural.
 
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