{"id":222433,"date":"2026-04-07T20:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/222433\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T20:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:06:12","slug":"dolphins-sieler-in-tough-position-in-miamis-rebuild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/222433\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolphins’ Sieler in tough position in Miami’s rebuild"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 Miami Dolphins<\/a> defensive tackle Zach Sieler has become the forgotten man of this rebuild. He\u2019s practically an in-between guy in the sense that at 30 years old, he\u2019s too old to be a foundational piece of the rebuild overseen by general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley. But Sieler is still good enough and young enough to have genuine value to the 2026 Dolphins.<\/p>\n

After that, who knows?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re reminded of Sieler\u2019s one-foot-in, one-foot-out spot in the rebuild as Dolphins<\/a> players reported for work on Tuesday, the first day of the offseason program.<\/p>\n

Almost all of the 30-somethings from previous seasons \u2014 wide receiver Tyreek Hill, cornerback Jalen Ramsey, defensive tackle Calais Campbell, left tackle Terron Armstead, tight end Darren Waller, guard Daniel Brunskill, the list goes on \u2014 are gone for one reason or another. The Dolphins want to get much younger.<\/p>\n

My hope is that Sieler, a class act, a team captain for the past three years, and the longest-tenured player on the roster, sticks around for a few more years. After all, Sieler fits pretty well<\/a>\u00a0with Sullivan and Hafley saying they want to build the trenches.<\/p>\n

But Sieler, who produced just 5.5 sacks last season after back-to-back 10-sack seasons, might not fit in with a multi-year rebuild.<\/p>\n

Reality, in the form of age and favoritism, says Sieler,\u00a0the 2024 team MVP<\/a>, is a bit of an outsider.<\/p>\n

Sieler, who will be 31 years old on Sept. 7, was a hero of the last regime, a diamond-in-the-rough that Miami discovered, polished and paid.<\/p>\n

However, the new regime didn\u2019t select Sieler. He\u2019s not one of \u201ctheir\u201d guys. They didn\u2019t draft him and they didn\u2019t sign him a contract extension.<\/p>\n

Hafley said that doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want the best players,\u201d he said Tuesday. \u201cI don\u2019t care whose guy it is. We\u2019ve all made mistakes in evaluating players. It is what it is. Whoever we have, our job as coaches is to develop whoever is here to be the best players that they can be. I (couldn\u2019t) care less who drafted them, where they were drafted, when they were drafted, when they were signed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The good thing is that Sieler got his well-deserved payday last year when he signed a three-year, $67 million contract extension with $44 million guaranteed.<\/p>\n

The reality is that Sieler, who counts a manageable $11.4 million against the salary cap this season, has no guaranteed money after this year so the Dolphins could cut him in 2027 and suffer no financial issues.<\/p>\n

Even better for the rebuild, the Dolphins could trade Sieler at the trade deadline and get a Day 3 draft pick for him.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a rough spot for Sieler, and an understandable spot for the franchise.<\/p>\n

It seems a longshot that he\u2019s back with the Dolphins in 2027, when he\u2019s scheduled to count $20.7 million against the salary cap. And when you\u2019re in the midst of a rebuild you don\u2019t want to renegotiate the contract of a 30-something to make it more financially palatable by adding years.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the shame of a pro sports rebuild.<\/p>\n

Good guys such as Sieler, a self-made 2018 seventh-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens who found a home in Miami, get the squeeze.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see what ultimately happens with Sieler, the Dolphins\u2019 only defensive tackle with skins on the wall.<\/p>\n

And make no mistake, the Dolphins could use a pass-rushing defensive tackle. Their pass rush right now is almost non-existent among edge rushers such as Chop Robinson, Josh Uche, David Ojabo and Derrick McLendon. Beyond that, there\u2019s no pass rush from the inside except for Sieler.<\/p>\n

If Sieler\u2019s performance falls off in 2026, there\u2019s almost certainly no spot available for him on the 2027 Dolphins.<\/p>\n

The argument for keeping Sieler beyond this season is that he\u2019s a quality player who is also a quality locker room guy. If he regains the form that allowed him to record those 10-sack seasons, the Dolphins can\u2019t do without him.<\/p>\n

Hafley, who has been a straight shooter, spoke highly of Sieler on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed getting to know him,\u201d Hafley said. \u201cHe\u2019s got a cool way about him that I\u2019m excited to get to know more.\u201d<\/p>\n

I believe Hafley. But I believe in the nature of NFL rebuilds even more. And the cruel reality is that Sieler is on the wrong side of 30 and the Dolphins are undergoing a rebuild, which means Sieler needs to have a darn good season to extend his Miami career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Zach Sieler has become the forgotten man of this rebuild. He\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64436,58521,123,1763,125,124,100717],"class_list":{"0":"post-222433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-jeff-hafley","9":"tag-jon-eric-sullivan","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-dolphins","12":"tag-miami-headlines","13":"tag-miami-news","14":"tag-zach-sieler"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}