It does if you want to franchise tag Gesicki 5 years from now and don't want to pay him WR money. I don't think you're going to see Smythe and Gesicki on the field together as often as people think either way. I'm thinking people are overvaluing the staff's commitment to a 'blocking' TE. Miami has invested a lot in getting better at pass protection. You're not taking a WR or Gesicki off the field all that much if you're trying to throw the ball. Drake and Ballage (also a great pass blocker) are good pass catchers out of the back field and the wide receivers Miami has are smaller quicker guys who excel in the short area and space. Amendola and Wilson weren't brought in to run block and Jakeem Grant certainly isn't going to give you that. We very much could see Miami transitioning into the short passing game replacing the running game. As poorly as Cutler played last season, Miami led the league in pass:run ratio.
I think unless you really hit it out of the park on one of your non-Gesicki tight ends you're going to be in a better position to spread defenses out to do the same things you would traditionally do with extra blockers. I'd absolutely agree with the idea at a certain point some of these guys should be called receivers and not tight ends. Jimmy Graham's arbitration was I think misguided in many respects. The uniqueness of the position is inherently tied to the creation of a gap in the run game and the stresses it places on the defense.
So, just 5 OL, 3 WRs, and a flexed out TE for what all intents and purposes is basically a 4WR spread look? I'm not as thrilled with that b/c the personnel grouping/formation really offers little threat of a run, where as having a TE in with the other OL makes the threat of a run viable. So, I'd rather keep that TE in, while subbing in Gesicki for the 3rd WR...
Or you use the TE has an H-Back. He was very effective that way at Penn St. Just putting him in motion out of the backfield is enough to make a LB hesitate, and putting a smaller guy in the box will be easier for linemen to make their blocks.
I may have ****ed up by conflating what they were brought in to do and what they can do. I don't think Grant and Wilson are here to block. I think they're here to be receivers first and block mainly out of passing formations.
miamis run game is scheme driven more than anything else. that's not gonna change with 11 personnel ideal fit offensive tackles or the offseason adds we've made be it draft or free agency as for gesicki I think the ask will be similar to travis kelce's when flexed or split. that doesn't mean he's gonna have things dialed up just for him until he shows the staff he should. he's gonna have to play some in line on the los there's no getting around that but you want to limit the calls where he's the poa in the run game unless hes covering up a tackle on a combo and going out to the 2nd level for a lb or safety angle block and by all means you cannot afford to leave him schematically in pass pro on any edge 34 olb or 43 de one on one for any deeper drop or long developing pass plays. if you do you better roll the qb away from it. just have to be smart with it and know your players strengths and weaknesses. gase is no dummy.
I don't know that more blockers necessarily represents a better ability to run the ball, that may be proving an obsolete underlying premise. I think it's more important to be able to consistently win the gaps you present to the defense, whether it be eight gaps with a fullback and tight end or six gaps with four wide formations. I'd like them to be able to do both, but it's better to do what you can than run your head into a wall. I think there is a concern that defenses just run a dime package when you come out like that, but I don't think the Dolphins are trying to player checkers against Belichicks chess, so to speak. There are a lot of other variables. (That being said I'd have loved having Frank Ragnow there to combat the way Belichick uses a 2-gap nose to get an extra DB in the game)