Cleveland Browns draft profile: Penn State tight end Mike Gesicki
By Mike Lukas
Besides Gesicki’s giant size (6-foot-6 and 249 pounds), his incredible speed (4.54 40-yard dash) and his insane leaping ability (41.5 inch vertical), one of the other main reasons he’s the highest graded tight end in the draft this year (5.92) is because of his soft hands. Watch him at the end of Penn State’s game versus Rutgers last season.
He ignores a fast approaching cornerback and extends his 34-inch arms to easily pull in a running seven-yard catch that he quickly turns into an unmolested touchdown.
The Browns are counting on Njoku and DeValve to do that for Cleveland, but there are plenty of NFL teams that could use a sure-handed towering mismatch like Gesicki at their line of scrimmage.
Quick crosses and short out patterns in traffic were Gesicki’s bread-and-butter in college. He has the ability to bring the ball down and hang onto it in the midst of chaos. Gesicki does exactly that in the first quarter against Ohio State last season, when he helps his scrambling quarterback by crossing with him and holding onto a quick toss despite being double-tackled and flipped onto the turf.
Later in the second quarter of the same game, he hangs onto a poorly thrown 10-yard first down pass even while being quadruple tackled afterward.
Also a solid route runner with a smooth release, without a doubt Gesicki will be the first tight end selected in the draft.
And that’s despite his main flaw.