McDaniel Addresses Gesicki Report

A report suggesting that Miami Dolphins tight end Mike Gesicki's name has come up in trade discussions has made headlines

Head coach Mike McDaniel said Thursday morning that Mike Gesicki has had a great week of practice and he likes coaching him, but he didn't shoot down a report suggesting the tight end's name had come up in trade discussions.

McDaniel was asked directly about the report from PFF reporter Doug Kyed, and he spoke in general terms about the idea of trade discussions while declining to commit to Gesicki being on the 53-man roster in 2022.

"These reports are tricky to me, because ... I've alluded to this before at the beginning of the offseason, like during the training camp during the offseason in general, GMs have work to do, and they're not just watching us coach," McDaniel said. "So when people report that somebody is ... when they use the that loose verbiage of, 'Al; right, well, yeah, his name has been brought up or whatever,' I mean, the report is kind of misleading because, like, there probably should be a lot of names on that report.

"All I'm focused on regardless of what people try to drum up, like, I'm focused on coaching. Mike is focused on getting better. ... He had a great week of practice this week. Which tells you a lot about that individual because there has been random noise that he hasn't listened to clearly, he's putting his best foot forward and that's all I'm concerned about.

"It's my job to coach the players on the team, and I like coaching Mike, and beyond that, like it's kind of a no-ends process about talking about, did someone talk about somebody else with? That stuff happens more often than it doesn't."

The key element of the quote is that McDaniel didn't shut the door on the possibility of Gesicki being traded when he easily could have done so, though it could be argued no coach should ever do that because of the possibility of an offer too good to refuse coming up.

But the Dolphins clearly are not going to get a bounty for Gesicki, mainly because of his $10.9 million salary for 2022 based on his franchise tag and the fact he's scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent next spring.

The reason the Dolphins would trade Gesicki is that contract, combined with the fact he's not an ideal scheme fit for the new offensive scheme McDaniel brought with him from Philadelphia.

As for McDaniel's comment that names being brought in trade discussions happens frequently, there's absolutely validity to that. GM Chris Grier, in fact, said in a national radio interview several days ago that he had discussed a few players with other GMs around the league.

Though he didn't mention any players by name, it's entirely possible that Gesicki was one of them.

This doesn't mean that Gesicki will end up being traded because obviously it takes two teams to consummate a deal and it's questionable how many teams will be interested — and the Dolphins aren't going to release him or give him away.

As a reminder, the trade deadline is Nov. 1, after the end of Week 8.