Mac Jones Catches Ricochet Shot From Former Patriots Tight End

There's no disputing the glaring disparity between Mac Jones and Joe Burrow.

Former New England Patriots tight end Mike Gesicki can clearly see it, too.

Gesicki, who signed a one-year, $3.25 million deal with the Cincinnati Bengals in free agency this offseason, understands he's getting quite the quarterback upgrade with his new team. And in praising Burrow when he met with reporters earlier this week, Gesicki threw a ricochet shot at Jones.

"Never been in the huddle with that kind of talent," Gesicki told reporters, per Bengals.com's senior writer Geoff Hobson.

Jones certainly doesn't measure up to Burrow, but not a lot of quarterbacks do, especially the ones Gesicki has played with over the course of his six-year NFL career. The imposing 6-foot-6, 245-pound tight end caught passes from Ryan Tannehill with the Miami Dolphins as a rookie before sharing the huddle with Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tua Tagovailoa.

Gesicki then moved on from the Dolphins and signed last season with the Patriots, where he had his worst season since his rookie campaign. Gesicki recorded only 29 receptions for 244 yards and two touchdowns.

Part of that is on Gesicki, part of that is on Jones and part of that is being in an epically inept Patriots offense.

Gesicki is looking forward to "proving" with the Bengals that he's the pass-catcher who made 73 receptions in 2021. And getting to catch passes from Burrow should help in that effort, especially with Gesicki's description of Burrow sounding like the opposite of Jones.

"I'm not going to bother him too much. But he's been great. He's been somebody I've been able to reach out to and have conversations," Gesicki said. "He's been a leader in the locker room who a lot of guys look to. I'm definitely one of those guys looking to him. I've heard great things about him as a teammate. He's easy to talk to. Good sense of humor."