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If Mike Gesicki is out, who gets his targets?

The Cincinnati Bengals room absorbs +2.65 receptions, and Drew Sample takes the largest single share at +1.00. The work stays overwhelmingly inside the tight end room.

Where the work goes

Change in projected receptions for every other player in the offense. The bars are small on purpose — a vacated role is shared out, and any tool showing one replacement absorbing a whole target load is telling you something the data does not support.

Receptions gained if Mike Gesicki sitsDrew Sample+1.0TE 59% snapsErick All+0.8TE 31% snapsTanner Hudson+0.5TE 16% snapsJa'Marr Chase+0.1WR 94% snapsTee Higgins+0.1WR 79% snapsAndrei Iosivas+0.1WR 57% snapsDohnte Meyers+0.1WR 30% snapsColbie Young+0.1WR 11% snapschange in projected receptions

Every player in the room

PlayerCatches nowIf he sitsChange
Ja'Marr Chase WR · 94% snaps6.606.67+0.07
Tee Higgins WR · 79% snaps4.304.37+0.07
Chase Brown RB · 0% snaps3.503.50+0.00
Mike Gesicki TE · 40% snaps2.30—OUT
Andrei Iosivas WR · 57% snaps1.601.67+0.07
Dohnte Meyers WR · 30% snaps1.501.57+0.07
Samaje Perine RB · 0% snaps1.401.40+0.00
Tanner Hudson TE · 16% snaps1.401.86+0.46
Drew Sample TE · 59% snaps1.202.20+1.00
Colbie Young WR · 11% snaps0.700.77+0.07
Erick All TE · 31% snaps0.601.44+0.84

What the data says happens

Measured across every regular-season game from 2018 onward, each beneficiary compared against his own trailing four-game form and net of what the same players do in weeks the room’s number one actually plays.

RoomReceptions gainednt
Receivers+0.1072,1602.29
Tight ends+0.4921,0249.57
Backs-0.0451,259-0.92

The room total is predictable. Which player takes it is not. Every candidate predictor of who gains — pecking order, snap share, route depth, trailing targets — correlates at roughly r = 0.02. In any single week one player usually takes about 60% of what was vacated; it is simply not predictably the same one.

Mike Gesicki’s full stats and usageSnap share, target share, game log and this week’s projection

Cascade effects 2018–2026, paired within player, net of control · projections as-of-week with no lookahead · 2026 week 4