Zach Sieler got rewarded in the end — as expected and it should have been.
The Miami Dolphins are signing the defensive tackle and 2024 team MVP to a three-year extension worth up to $67.8 million but more importantly featuring $44 million in guarantees, according to ESPN reporter Adam Schefter.
Dolphins and DT Zach Sieler reached agreement today on a three-year extension worth up to $67.75 million, including $44 million guaranteed, per Drew and Jason Rosenhaus. Sieler had two years remaining on his deal and he now becomes the Dolphins’ highest-paid defensive player. pic.twitter.com/cJ1NtxGpbl
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 3, 2025
Sieler was scheduled to make $7.3 million in base salary in 2025 with a modest $12.4 million cap number, and as an added bonus his cap number figures to go down once the contract officially is signed.
Despite an unresolved contract situation, Sieler had been a full participant in practice at training camp, explaining his stance as simply being true to himself.
“God has blessed me with amazing seasons here in Miami,” Sieler said early in camp. “I’m so fortunate to have the time I’ve had here and continue to have here. Obviously, all that (contract) stuff is between me and the team. What I really care about is getting out there on the field with the guys and building that camaraderie and leadership with them, getting to play next to ‘KG’ (Kenneth Grant), ‘JP’ (Jaelan Phillips) again, (Bradley) Chubb, Chop (Robinson), all those guys. It’s so good to be out there with those guys. Summer is great and all, but after a while you kind of start going crazy. It’s so nice to get here, get into a routine again and really start to build that camaraderie with the guys again. It’s been a blessing.
“I think everyone’s decision is their own path, their own journey. I have my path and my journey. I’ve prayed about it a bunch, talked to my wife, talked to my family, and at the end of the day, I’m going to be me. What got me to this point, what’s gotten me here so far, that’s what I’m going to do every day. That’s how I take this approach.”
All along, we advocated for the Dolphins to make sure to take care of Sieler.
Unless Sieler’s demands, through agent Drew Rosenhaus, were going to be completely outrageous, the Dolphins borderline didn’t have a choice but to make sure to keep their best defensive player happy and engaged and most importantly in town for the foreseeable future.
The Dolphins have lost a lot of talent in the past two years, which is how they’ve tumbled from having a roster deemed among the top 10 in the NFL to its ESPN ranking of 24th for this summer.
There’s no question that Sieler was vastly underpaid for the production he’s given the Dolphins the past two seasons or we can just say he’s greatly outperformed his most recent contract extension.
So it never was unreasonable for him to want more money and more security.
And the Dolphins needed to ackowledge that and take care of one of their core players.
While Sieler wasn’t a Dolphins draft pick, having instead come over as a waiver claim from the Baltimore Ravens, he’s grown and developed in Miami and he can’t become the latest such player to leave and follow players like Christian Wilkins, Robert Hunt, Brandon Jones or Jevon Holland out the door.
This is the third time the Dolphins have signed Sieler to an extension since he arrived as a waiver claim from the Baltimore Ravens in December 2019.
Sieler was looking for a new contract a couple of years ago but still being a full participant in training camp before he had a knee injury that looked a bit ominous when it happened before it proved to be insignificant.
With all the injuries the Dolphins have sustained in training camp so far this year, there might have come a point where Sieler, likely under the advice of Rosenhaus, would have shut things down, particularly with joint practices around the corner.
But this always was the perfect resolution and also the most likely.
And now it’s literally a done deal.
