Dolphins TE Mike Gesicki hypes Tua Tagovailoa at Penn State fundraiser

Get yourself a hype man like the one Mike Gesicki is for Tua Tagovailoa. We have to imagine life is much better with one. Miami’s fourth-year tight end enters a contract season in 2021 looking to secure himself a long-term contract with the team — and Tagovailoa serving as his quarterback will be an essential piece of the puzzle as Gesicki and the rest of the Dolphins receivers look to get over the hump in 2021.

But while the skepticism and criticism of Tagovailoa’s 9-game sample size as the Dolphins’ starter will be non-stop all offseason, Gesicki seems pretty pleased with what Tagovailoa showed in those 9 starts. So much so that he’s offered a bit of praise to his quarterback during his alma mater’s annual fundraising marathon.

Gesicki’s receiving splits between Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tagovailoa in 2020 were fairly even — but hearing Gesicki offer some praise for Tua ability and how seamless the transition was for him personally amid the swap from a right-handed quarterback to a left-handed one is still reassuring for Dolphins fans.

Especially given that Gesicki might be the only one of Miami’s receivers who can honestly say that’s the case. The Dolphins’ offense group was shorthanded on talent regardless of who was at quarterback. But the team certainly saw an abysmal number of drops down the stretch when looking to catch passes from Tagovailoa — especially in the brutal blowout loss to the Bills to bring the season to a close.

The silver lining here, of course, is that Miami has an offseason effort ahead of them to change the dynamics of the room and get the receivers to a more appropriate level of talent and skill. And when that transition is complete, expect to see Gesicki’s name atop the tight end depth chart. And no, it won’t just be because he had nice things to say about Tagovailoa at THON.