Miami Dolphins defensive lineman Zach Sieler has come a long way from the seventh-round pick out of Ferris State who failed to make the Baltimore Ravens roster out of training camp as a rookie.
Since the Dolphins claimed him off of waivers in December 2019, he’s been a cornerstone of their defense, providing a steadying presence to a changing group around him. And while Sieler’s numbers haven’t always jumped off the page, his value can’t be understand.
In fact, new Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley spoke on Tuesday about how much Sieler does for the team while making an intriguing cross-sport comparison to the NBA.
“Yeah, I think you got to look at this two ways. When I first just watched Zach’s film, you know, I thought one thing. And then when you get to know Zach and you see what Zach does throughout the course of the plays, especially when you get into those passing downs – here, I’ll give you a good analogy: I view Zach like a point guard,” Hafley said. “Where a lot of people, all they look for is how many points did they score? And a lot of people might say, how many sacks did Zach get? One, Zach’s sacks are going to come so I certainly want that number up. But what Zach does is Zach sets up so many games and so many rushers for his teammates, and he takes so much pride in that where if he knows the slide side or the man’s side, he can call out those games and really – selfish rushers just want to rush.
“Zach’s perfectly OK with running a game, picking a guy, grabbing a guy and having his teammate come through, and you can see how excited he gets about that… Certainly I’d like his numbers to be up, but at the same time, I think if we counted assists, I think he’d be one of the assist leaders in the NFL.”
If Sieler’s not taking down the opposing quarterback, he’s taking on multiple linemen or collapsing the pocket and forcing the quarterback outside to the edge rushers. So, even though Sieler has multiple 10-sack seasons in Miami, he’s doing much more than that for this defense.
That’s part of the reason why in a year where the Dolphins have moved on from several high-priced veterans, Sieler is one of the few that remains on the roster.
This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: Jeff Hafley makes interesting cross-sport comparison for Dolphins DL
Reporting by Mike Masala, Dolphins Wire / Dolphins Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mike Masala, Dolphins Wire | USA TODAY Network
