Mike

Gesicki

Hot off a rebound 2024 season, Gesicki inked a three-year, $25.5 million contract to stay in Cincinnati in the offseason. It became apparent early in the year that Gesicki would not be giving Bengals fans an encore in 2025. He was held under 20 receiving yards in each of his first six games before a pec injury sent him to injured reserve. Gesicki started to turn things around after coming off IR, totaling 35 yards on four grabs in Week 12. At the time, it was his best game of the year. He eventually popped for a few other meaningful games, though he ultimately topped 50 yards just once on the year. He posted a 28/307/2 receiving line in total. The Bengals could save $3.3 million in cap space with a $4.3 million dead cap hit if they move on from him after the year. Either way, we don’t expect him to be on the fantasy radar in 2026.

This is close to Gesicki’s standard statline when the Bengals’ offense is at full strength, which it is at the current moment. They have a rough Week 18 matchup in the Browns, meaning Gesicki probably won’t be much of a DFS play even with the usual final Sunday chicanery primed to be more insane than ever this season.

This was only the fourth time all season Gesicki caught at least three passes, though the score was his second in three weeks. Good for him, but there’s still no reason to rank Gesicki in the top 20 for Week 17 against the Cardinals. Even in that plus matchup, you need to do better for the fantasy finals.

Taylor told reporters that Higgins — who was checked multiple times after a couple major hits on Sunday — reported symptoms after the game. Given the quick turnaround from his last concussion, it would be surprising if Higgins managed to play this week. It looks like Andrei Iosivas and Mitchell Tinsley, as well as Mike Gesicki, will be solidly on the 12-team radar for Week 15.

The Bengals were repeatedly able to get Gesicki matched up against the Bills’ slot corners, and he made multiple crucial catches, including three different third-down grabs and a touchdown catch. Gesicki essentially split the workload with Noah Fant, but you wouldn’t know that from the box score. Gesicki played the same amount of snaps as Fant and ran four more routes, but far out-produced his teammate. As a result, we’d consider this more of a one-off and view Gesicki as more of a TE2 next week against the Ravens.

Gesicki was the leader of a tight-end-by-committee in Week 13. Tanner Hudson, Drew Sample, and Noah Fant all caught one pass on two targets. Hudson’s only grab was a toe-tapping touchdown from 14 yards out. Tee Higgins was out with a concussion this week, but Geiscki did little to earn more work if Higgins misses another game. He will barely be on the TE2 radar even if Higgins remains out for Week 14 versus the Bills.

Three of Gesicki’s catches came on the first drive of the game, but then he and Joe Flacco were unable to connect much after that. The veteran looked good in his return from the IR, and the Bengals could be forced to rely on him just as much next week with Tee Higgins (concussion) potentially sidelined against the Ravens. Gesicki would be a mid-range TE2 in a potential shootout.

After practicing fully all week, Gesicki will resume his role as head of the Bengals TE committee. He and Noah Fant will likely cannibalize each other’s production enough to keep either from being fantasy-interesting, but if they were ever going to be interesting, playing a pass-funnel Patriots defense with Ja’Marr Chase being suspended might be the place.

He was practicing in full all week, so the questionable tag leads us to believe the Bengals probably want to get Gesicki into game shape before activating him. Or, perhaps, it’s one of the most optimistic questionable tags of the week. If Gesicki does play, he and Noah Fant will cannibalize each other’s opportunities and leave neither of them as a sure-fire TE1, which is a shame because this Patriots outfit is a pass funnel that could support a mid-range TE1 finish from someone who actually got a full snap allotment.

Gesicki practiced fully on Wednesday, theoretically putting him on track to play in Week 12 against the Patriots. His return is a positive for the offense, but it muddies the water for fantasy purposes. He would only be up for TE2 consideration, were he to be active this week.