Mike Gesicki on Signing Three-Year Extension With Cincinnati Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

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00:00It means everything, honestly.

00:01This is really all I've been chasing in my career

00:05for the last, you know, going on year eight.

00:08Just to be valued, to be appreciated,

00:11and to be wanted, you know, long-term.

00:14So, it's super cool to kind of see all that kind of stuff

00:17come to fruition.

00:20What does it mean to you to have an all-time year here

00:22after the last few years being on campus?

00:24Yeah, absolutely.

00:25I mean, this is the longest year I've had

00:27since I got drafted, you know?

00:28So, it's cool to,

00:32especially with the journey that I've kind of been on.

00:36You know, I had franchise tag, which was one-year deal.

00:39New England, one-year deal.

00:41Last year, like, pretty much just begging everybody

00:45in the building to just give me a chance

00:47to come to Cincinnati.

00:48Like, I knew that if I got my foot in the door here,

00:52that it was going to be the perfect situation.

00:55So, now, to capitalize on that and kind of see the vision

00:59before it happened, to kind of see that,

01:02you know, be what it is today, I'm super grateful.

01:05And it feels good to, you know, to be appreciated,

01:10to be wanted, to be valued.

01:12So, I'm excited about it.

01:14Talk about being wanted.

01:15What was it like when Joe was talking at the Super Bowl,

01:17and your name shows up in the books?

01:19Yeah.

01:20Were you expecting that?

01:21Did you talk to Joe before that?

01:23Did not talk to Joe before that.

01:25I am, like, that picture on Twitter.

01:30You see the dude, like, pointing himself on the couch.

01:32Like, that was me, literally, on my couch.

01:34I was sitting there with my wife, and I was like,

01:36I literally looked, and I was like,

01:37Hallie, like, I think he's talking about me.

01:42So, when he said that, it was awesome,

01:45just because, like, it shows that, you know,

01:47the chemistry that, you know,

01:49we were able to build on the field,

01:51and the plays that we made on the field,

01:52and, you know, the chemistry off the field,

01:54like, it all translated to that.

01:57And so, it was a really cool moment.

02:01We definitely got some good laughs out of it.

02:04But I do, you know, I mean, I'm going to work my tail off

02:08every single day for the Cincinnati Bengals,

02:10but for Joe Burrow, because, I mean,

02:12he did so much for my career last year,

02:15just giving me the opportunity, and believing in me,

02:17and trusting in me that, hey, Mike's going to win.

02:20Like, I'm going to throw him the ball here

02:21when, you know, you got Jamar and T

02:23who are attracting attention.

02:26But then off the field, doing things like that in the media,

02:28just mentioning my name and things like that.

02:30So, it was awesome.

02:31How much do you think,

02:32and obviously, Faye would want to get back,

02:33but how much do you think Joe being so much in your corner

02:36was a big part of the reason this got done for you?

02:40Yeah, I think that that definitely helped.

02:42I think that that definitely helped.

02:43Joe, like I said, you know, I owe a lot to him,

02:47and I'm super grateful for our friendship,

02:51and it's been cool to kind of watch that develop,

02:56and definitely having the best quarterback on planet Earth

03:01have your back, that helps.

03:03How much did that back in the decision

03:04when you were, you know, could have taken the vacancy,

03:06but how much did you back that in

03:07with whatever the financial compensation

03:09was going to have to be involved in?

03:10Yeah, absolutely.

03:12I definitely knew that I was going to take the Joe Burrow tax,

03:16so I knew that, and I was like, I'm cool with it,

03:21and so it makes it easy to come back to a place like this

03:26with a head coach like Zach Taylor,

03:28with an offense coordinator like Dan Pitcher,

03:30and tight end coach James Casey,

03:35my guy Brad who draws up the third down plan.

03:37Like, there's so many different guys

03:40that were in the back of my mind as I'm thinking about,

03:42you know, do I test the market,

03:45and, you know, you hear about your value

03:48and all that kind of stuff and what it could be,

03:50and at that point, it's just like, this is what I wanted.

03:53I wanted to go to Cincinnati, and I wanted to be in an offense

03:56that allowed me to, you know, reach my potential,

03:59and I think that this place

04:02gives me everything that I'm looking for.

04:04How much better do you think you and the offense in general

04:07can get next year?

04:08Yeah, I mean, there's definitely room to grow.

04:10I think that there was a lot of production last year

04:13from so many different guys,

04:15but I think that, you know,

04:16there's another level to tap into,

04:19so whether it just be, you know, myself

04:21or collectively as an offensive unit,

04:24I think that there's a lot of things that, you know,

04:27we're going to go back to the drawing board

04:28and get back to work.

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