Miami Dolphins tight end Mike Gesicki is entering into his fourth season as a member of the team and, by extension, the final year of his rookie contract. And with plenty of other bodies present in the Dolphins’ tight end room, monitoring the potential cost of a Gesicki extension and Miami’s interest in paying it is going to be a major sub-plot to this 2021 season. The Dolphins, of course, are hoping for big things from Gesicki and the rest of the offensive unit after investing heavily in the group this offseason.
But the continued presence of Gesicki is going to require a heavy investment into his next deal. What should Miami expect? Spotrac has provided a “market value” forecast for Gesicki’s next deal — and it’s right around $10M in annual average salary.
Market value is assessed by Spotrac by factoring in several key dynamics to individual players and their situation ahead of a new deal: age, production, position, historical trends of spending at the position and so on. For Gesicki, four contracts were referenced to ballpark the fourth-year Penn State product at $10M per season:
- Austin Hooper
- Gerald Everett
- Jonnu Smith
- Eric Ebron
Everett and Ebron signed contracts worth an average of $6M annually, while Hooper and Smith saw deals that eclipsed the average of $10M per season. Hooper, when 25 years of age, signed a 4-year, $42M deal with the Browns after starting his career in Atlanta. Smith just signed a deal with the Patriots this past spring for 4-years, $50M.
But Gesicki’s averages through three seasons outperform the aggregate averages of these four talents prior to their own respective deals — and with the anticipated salary cap jump that is set to come for 2022, Gesicki may be in line for an even bigger figure than the one Spotrac has forecasted for him. So if Miami does intend, with no questions asked, to keep Gesicki in place? They may want to try to iron out the deal sooner rather than later to help ensure that the cap growth doesn’t afford Gesicki and his camp more wiggle room for asking power.
