FOXBORO, Mass. — With pads yet to come on for the New England Patriots, tight end Mike Gesicki confirmed the team’s first three training camp practices helped the offense emphasize timing and communication.
That’s a good thing for someone in Gesicki’s position, who signed with the Patriots this offseason and is working with both a new offensive coordinator and quarterback.
And Gesicki believes his timing with third-year signal-caller Mac Jones continues to grow. He feels good about where their connection currently stands.
“I think it’s been great,” Gesicki said at Gillette Stadium on Friday after the team’s third training camp session. “We’ve been having a lot of time during some of these special teams periods where we can work.”
Gesicki acknowledged how catching passes from a new quarterback isn’t anything, well, new. He played with a handful of signal-callers during his five seasons on the Miami Dolphins including Ryan Tannehill and Brock Osweiler in 2018, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen in 2019, Tua Tagovailoa and Fitzpatrick in 2020, Jacoby Brissett and Tagovailoa in 2021, along with Teddy Bridgewater, Skylar Thompson and Tagovailoa in 2022.
“That’s kind of been my whole career, I think Mac’s now my 10th quarterback that I’ve played with so it’s nothing new,” Gesicki said. “At the end of the day football is football. Mac has thrown the ball to 100 receivers in his life and I’ve caught the ball from hundreds of quarterback. So it’s all the same stuff.
“And Mac throws a very catchable ball. He’s accurate. He’s on time. Understands concepts, spacing, when guys are coming in and out of the routes and all that kind of stuff. So it’s been good.”
Gesicki was one of New England’s prized pass-catching additions this offseason along with JuJu Smith-Schuster. He joins a tight end room he’ll co-headline with Hunter Henry, though Gesicki believes the group’s talent stretches beyond those two. The Patriots are expected to see more multi-tight end looks this season with Bill O’Brien taking over as offensive coordinator.
Gesicki expressed confidence in the new-look New England offense. A key reason why? The Patriots showed discipline when they held three days of red zone work to start camp — a clear emphasis for Bill Belichick and company.
“Definitely been disciplined,” Gesicki said. “Hasn’t been a lot of guys jumping offsides, hasn’t been a lot of guys lining up the wrong spots or making mental errors. And I think that’s the biggest part.
“Coach Belichick says, ‘Before you win, you must keep from losing.’ That’s kind of something that we got to take day in and day out because a lot of teams in the league will beat themselves. So if we’re gonna be one of the teams that’ll be disciplined and not be one of the teams to get it for ourselves, it’ll give you a much higher percentage chance of winning.”
Gesicki and the Patriots obviously have a long way to go. But should Gesicki and Jones establish a reliable connection moving forward, it certainly will help the offense get back to productivity after an underwhelming season.
