The New England Patriots didn’t so much fill a position need Friday morning when they signed tight end Mike Gesicki as they added a player who will help them in important situations.

The Patriots didn’t necessarily need a pass-catching tight end who won’t contribute much in the run game. That’s not a shot at Gesicki. There are plenty of talented tight ends who aren’t great blockers and Gesicki is one of them. His lack of blocking prowess is a big reason why he was largely phased out of the Miami Dolphins offense last season after the team used the franchise tag to retain him. Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel likes a tight end like George Kittle who can block, and that’s not one of Gesicki’s strengths. Despite playing for $10.9M on the franchise tag, Gesicki was on the field for 45 percent of offensive snaps and caught 32 passes for 362 yards with five touchdowns.

The Patriots, historically, have also liked tight ends who can block. They traded away their best blocking tight end, Jonnu Smith, to the Atlanta Falcons, for a seventh-round pick. And their other top tight end is Hunter Henry, who is certainly a more accomplished blocker than Gesicki, but receiving is still the biggest strength of his game.

But Gesicki also serves as a matchup and red-zone weapon in an offense. He’s a 6-foot-6, 247-pound pass catcher who ran a 4.54-second 40-yard dash with a 6.76-second 3-cone drill, 4.10-second short shuttle, 41.5-inch vertical leap and 10-feet, 9-inch broad jump coming out of Penn State in 2018. That’s a receiver that can’t necessarily be covered by a 5-foot-11 cornerback or a linebacker who ran a 4.7-second 40-yard dash. Teams have to decide whether to combat the Patriots in 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends, two wide receivers) with a base defense (four defensive backs), nickel (three cornerbacks, two safeties) or big nickel (two cornerbacks, three safeties).

“He has some gravitational pull in terms of game planning and how defenses have to account for him,” a source said. “And then, with the length, hands and leaping he's open even when he's covered.”

In his career, Gesicki has pulled in 47-of-100 contested catches. He ranked second among tight ends in contested catches in 2020 and 2021. He was seventh in 2019.

Gesicki caught just 2-of-10 contested catches last season, but 2022 can almost be thrown away for him. It was his first season since his rookie year that he spent more than 23 percent of snaps inline at tight end. Gesicki does his best work split out wide or in the slot, where he primarily played during his best years in 2020 and 2021.

It will be interesting to see what offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien has cooked up for all of the Patriots’ offensive playmakers. The team now has two starting-caliber running backs in Rhamondre Stevenson and James Robinson, four starting-caliber wide receivers in JuJu Smith-Schuster, Kendrick Bourne, DeVante Parker and Tyquan Thornton, and two starting-caliber tight ends in Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki. That’s eight players for five starting slots on offense, and Smith-Schuster, Bourne, Henry and Gesicki all are adept at playing inside in the slot and in another role, whether that’s split out wide or inline.

On paper, Gesicki wasn’t an obvious fit for the Patriots’ current personnel. But the Patriots discussed the move at length internally before electing to sign Gesicki to a one-year contract worth up to $9 million. His full contract has not been disclosed yet, but it likely comes with incentives. And it’s a small bargain to get a tight end who played on the franchise tag last season to agree to a one-year deal worth less than the tag a year later.

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