Sport: Football
Born: October 3, 1995
Town: Manahawkin, New Jersey
Michael Williams Gesicki was born October 3, 1995 in Lakewood to Donna and Mike Gesicki and grew up in Manahawkin, NJ. Mike’s two older sisters were basketball junkies and he got into sports tagging along with them to the gym. He became obsessed with basketball and also played youth-league football as a boy. By 8th grade, Mike was able to dunk. In 2011, he enrolled at Southern Regional High School and made the Rams varsity as a special-teams player. He mostly held the ball on extra points as a freshman.
Over the next three years Mike grew to 6’6” and packed on 235 pounds of mostly muscle, but still had an eye-popping vertical leap. He became the star receiver of the football team, brought basketball fans to their feet with his slam dunks (smashing the school record for points) and led the volleyball team to the state championship in 2016 and 2017.
Mike was recruited as a tight end and accepted a scholarship to Penn State. He saw sporadic action his first two seasons before breaking through with 48 catches and 5 TDs as a junior in 2016. That season, the Nittany Lions beat Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game but lost the Rose Bowl, finishing with a #7 national ranking. Mike’s senior season was even better. In a November game against Rutgers, Mike reeled in 5 catches to give him 42 on the season—and a new record for Penn State tight ends. He finished the year with 57 catches and 9 touchdowns as Penn State finished 11–2 with another Top 10 national ranking.
The Miami Dolphins selected Mike with their second pick in the 2018 Draft. He was the second tight end taken, after Hayden Hurst of South Carolina. Mike split time at the position with Nick O’Leary his rookie year and caught 22 passes for the Dolphins. In 2019, new coach Brian Flores made Mike a more integral part of the offense. He was second on the club in receptions to DeVante Parker, catching 51 passes for 570 yards and 5 touchdowns. All of those scores came in the second half of the season, when Mike functioned as the team’s slot receiver. He was a big reason Miami turned a 1–7 start around and finished 7–9.
The Dolphins improved their depth at the tight end position in 2020, pushing Mike to sharpen his game. In Week 2, he caught a career-high 8 passes against the Bills. He ended the year with 53 catches and scored 6 TDs. The 2021 season saw Mike become one of the NFL’s most productive tight ends. He reeled in 73 catches for a personal-best 780 yards, which was second on the team to rookie wideout Jaylen Waddle, who caught 104 passes. In 2022, Mike came off the bench much of the year, backing up Tanner Smythe. He still led the Dolphins’ tight ends with 32 catches, 362 yards and five touchdowns, including both scores in a 24–16 loss to the Vikings. He added a postseason TD in Miami’s 34–31 loss to the Bills.
In 2023, Mike signed a one-year free-agent deal with the Patriots.