The Bengals have placed tight end Mike Gesicki on IR with a pectoral injury, in line with a team announcement. Gesicki will miss a minimum of 4 games. With the Bengals’ bye coming during that stretch, Gesicki won’t be eligible to return until Week 12 against the Patriots, certainly one of his former teams.
After spending the 2023 campaign in Recent England, Gesicki headed to Cincinnati on a one-year, $3.25MM deal. He served as a solid complementary weapon within the Bengals’ Joe Burrow-led passing attack last season, hauling in 65 of 83 targets for 665 yards and a pair of touchdowns. That was enough to persuade the Bengals to bring back Gesicki on a three-year, $25.5MM pact.
With Burrow out since suffering a toe injury in Week 2, Gesicki’s production has dropped off in the primary season of his latest contract. He caught eight of 16 targets for a paltry 61 yards and no scores throughout the Bengals’ first five games. The 30-year-old didn’t record any stats during latest starting QB Joe Flacco‘s debut last week – a loss to the Packers – before his injury forced him to exit in the primary half.
Gesicki has logged a 36.7% snap share this season, which ranks second amongst Bengals tight ends. Drew Sample (49.2) leads the best way, while Noah Fant (30.7) has also gotten a good amount of playing time. Those two could see more motion with Gesicki on the shelf. Tanner Hudson and Cam Grandy round out the Bengals’ TE depth chart, though the previous is in concussion protocol, per Ben Baby of ESPN.com.