The Bengals are calling Tee Higgins doubtful, and I am officially interested in Mike Gesicki. I think he’ll be picking up most of that Higgins role in the offense.
Gesicki is officially a tight end, but he plays more like a wide receiver. He sure got busy last week, with Joe Burrow going to him a bunch. I saw a one-handed catch that was as good as you’ll see – up there with some of his remarkable catches at Miami. Gesicki’s hands are maybe the best of anybody playing the position. (There was a run of a few years when he was at the Dolphins that he had the league’s best drop rate among tight ends.)
Gesicki finished the Philly game with 7 catches. Some of the other wide receivers who might in theory do more with Higgins out, meanwhile, didn’t do much. I saw one early 41-yard catch from Jermaine Burton. He also caught a 47-yard ball when Higgins was a DNP at Arrowhead. Burton probably will be starting in that Higgins spot next year. But I think Burton at this point is primarily a rotational deep threat. Andrei Isovias didn’t catch any of his 3 targets and he also didn’t catch anything in Week 7.
Gesicki, on the other hand, has caught 7 passes in each of the last two games that Higgins has missed. I take that as good evidence that he’ll be involved in the passing game this week.
Only 31 times this year has a tight end caught 7 passes in a game, and Gesicki has two of those games.
| TIGHT ENDS WITH 7 CATCHES IN A GAME | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Opp | Result | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
| Dallas Goedert, Phil. | at N.O. | W 15-12 | 10 | 170 | 17.0 | 0 |
| Evan Engram, Jac. | at Chi. | L 16-35 | 10 | 102 | 10.2 | 0 |
| Cole Kmet, Chi. | at Ind. | L 16-21 | 10 | 97 | 9.7 | 1 |
| Brock Bowers, L.V. | at LAR | L 15-20 | 10 | 93 | 9.3 | 0 |
| Travis Kelce, K.C. | at L.V. | W 27-20 | 10 | 90 | 9.0 | 1 |
| David Njoku, Cle. | Cin. | L 14-21 | 10 | 76 | 7.6 | 1 |
| Trey McBride, Ari. | at Mia. | W 28-27 | 9 | 124 | 13.8 | 0 |
| Isaiah Likely, Balt. | at K.C. | L 20-27 | 9 | 111 | 12.3 | 1 |
| Brock Bowers, L.V. | at Balt. | W 26-23 | 9 | 98 | 10.9 | 0 |
| Cade Otton, T.B. | Atl. | L 26-31 | 9 | 81 | 9.0 | 2 |
| Brock Bowers, L.V. | Pitt. | L 13-32 | 9 | 71 | 7.9 | 0 |
| Travis Kelce, K.C. | N.O. | W 26-13 | 9 | 70 | 7.8 | 0 |
| Hunter Henry, N.E. | Sea. | L 20-23 | 8 | 109 | 13.6 | 0 |
| Cade Otton, T.B. | Balt. | L 31-41 | 8 | 100 | 12.5 | 0 |
| Brock Bowers, L.V. | at Den. | L 18-34 | 8 | 97 | 12.1 | 1 |
| Trey McBride, Ari. | at G.B. | L 13-34 | 8 | 96 | 12.0 | 0 |
| Hunter Henry, N.E. | at Jac. | L 16-32 | 8 | 92 | 11.5 | 0 |
| Will Dissly, LAC | at Ari. | L 15-17 | 8 | 81 | 10.1 | 0 |
| George Kittle, S.F. | Ari. | L 23-24 | 8 | 64 | 8.0 | 1 |
| Jonnu Smith, Mia. | at Ind. | L 10-16 | 7 | 96 | 13.7 | 1 |
| Mike Gesicki, Cin. | at K.C. | L 25-26 | 7 | 91 | 13.0 | 0 |
| Travis Kelce, K.C. | at LAC | W 17-10 | 7 | 89 | 12.7 | 0 |
| Kyle Pitts, Atl. | T.B. | W 36-30 | 7 | 88 | 12.6 | 0 |
| Zach Ertz, Was. | Chi. | W 18-15 | 7 | 77 | 11.0 | 0 |
| George Kittle, S.F. | at Min. | L 17-23 | 7 | 76 | 10.9 | 1 |
| Mike Gesicki, Cin. | Phil. | L 17-37 | 7 | 73 | 10.4 | 0 |
| Kyle Pitts, Atl. | Sea. | L 14-34 | 7 | 65 | 9.3 | 0 |
| Dallas Goedert, Phil. | at T.B. | L 16-33 | 7 | 62 | 8.9 | 0 |
| Colby Parkinson, LAR | G.B. | L 19-24 | 7 | 52 | 7.4 | 0 |
| Jake Ferguson, Dall. | at NYG | W 20-15 | 7 | 49 | 7.0 | 0 |
—Ian Allan