Mike Gesicki takes less money to stay in Cincinnati, here’s his reason why

The Cincinnati Bengals have a busy offseason coming up as they look to keep some of their top weapons on the offensive side of the ball.

No problem with “Burrow tax” for Gesicki

One of those weapons, tight end Mike Gesicki, has already re-signed with the Bengals, but recognized that he did accept a pay cut in order to be able to play with Joe Burrow and Cincy this season.

“I definitely knew that I was going to take the ‘Joe Burrow tax,’” Gesicki told the Dayton Daily News “So, I knew that, and I was like, I’m cool with it. And so, it makes it easy to come back to a place like this. … There’s so many different guys (in the organization) that were in the back of my mind as I’m thinking about, you know, do I test the market?

Gesicki and the Benglas agreed on a three-year deal worth $25.5 million dollars, while $12 million of that will be paid to the pass catching tight end in the first year. It’s a deal that will pay him an average of $8.5 million a year, which is about half of Travis Kelce’s $17.1 million a year, but Gesicki doesn’t mind not being the highest paid TE.

One more order of business for Bengals

Gesicki was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in 2018, and after a slow start to his career, had a couple of great seasons in South Beach. He had back to back 700 yard seasons, but then fell out of favor in Miami in the 2022 season, staring just one game and catching 32 passes. He would leave Miami for New England but caught just 29 balls in an offense that struggled to move the ball.

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In his first year in Cincinnati, he had 65 receptions for 665 yards and caught two TDs. A lot of that success is credited to Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, says Gesicki. “I’m going to work my tail off every single day for the Cincinnati Bengals,” Gesicki said. “But for Joe Burrow, because, I mean, he did so much for my career last year, just giving me the opportunity and believing in me and trusting me that, ‘Hey, Mike’s gonna win, I’m gonna throw the ball here,’ when you got Ja’Marr or Tee who are attracting attention. But then off the field doing things like that, just mentioning my name and things like that. So, it was awesome.”

Burrow signed his big money contract last year, agreeing to a deal that pays him and average of $55 million over the next five years. The task this year is to keep Burrow’s top targets around, and they have done that with two of the three pass catchers that were looking for new deals. Tee Higgins was franchised for the second year in a row, this time for $26.5 million. Then came Gesicki’s deal. Now all that’s left is to sign Ja’Marr Chase who is looking for top dollar this offseason.