Jeff Hafley Likes Zach Sieler the Point Guard, but Miami Needs Him to Get More Buckets

Jeff Hafley explained a pretty simple, and good, reason Zach Sieler's sack numbers dropped dramatically last season

Aug 2, 2026; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Zach Sieler (92) looks on during practice at Baptist Health Training Complex. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Disruption is production. That’s what defensive coaches say at least.

There’s certainly truth in that cliché. Getting after opposing quarterbacks and making them uncomfortable in the pocket is very important. There’s been a new push to look at how many pressures a defensive lineman gets, as opposed to just how many sacks they have.  

There is value in that, there is no question.

But sacks are what get the best players in the sport paid.

Yes, Myles Garrett is consistently in the opposing backfield even if he’s not sacking the opposing quarterback. Why is he considered the best defensive player in the sport? Because he takes the opposing quarterback down more than anyone else.

On defense, big plays are incredibly important. Every defensive coordinator emphasizes taking the ball away, and Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley will be no exception in that regard.

Negative plays are also what help lead to takeaways. A sack on an early down leads to a longer down-and-distance, which by its very nature is harder to convert.

Zach Sieler's Breakout Seasons

Defensive tackle Zach Sieler burst onto the scene in 2023. He had 10 sacks in his career coming into that season.

He would pump out 10 sacks in both 2023 and 2024, before falling back to 5.5 in 2025. The lack of sack production in 2025 was disappointing, even if Sieler still was productive.

According to PFF, Sieler had 32 pressures in 2025, which was 32nd out of 134 qualifying defensive tackles.

Why was there a reduction in his sack production? Hafley has a theory.

“Yeah, I think you got to look at this two ways,” Hafley said Tuesday. “When I first just watched Zach's film, you know, I thought one thing. And then when you get to know Zach and what 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've used Zach like a point guard, okay, 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?”

Hafley’s point is that Sieler is doing the dirty work trying to set up other players on the roster for success. Sieler doing his job in Hafley’s analogy could mean more plays are there to be made by Chop Robinson or Josh Uche, among others.

The reality, however, is there’s only one player on Miami’s roster who has a 10-sack season under their belt, and it’s Sieler.

Hafley knows that too.

Miami Needs More

"One, Zach’s sacks are going to come so I certainly want that number up,” Hafley said. “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 okay 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. So I've used Zach one, certainly I 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.”

Hafley’s point about assists is certainly taken. Rushing the quarterback is typically a group effort. Edge rushers need defensive tackles to push the pocket to box a quarterback in and get rid of escape lanes.

Defensive tackles might need an edge rusher to win on the outside for a quarterback to step into their pressure as well.

The great individuals, however, are able to make their own plays. Sieler did that as he piled up 20 sacks combined in 2023 and 2024.

He fell to 5.5, which was second on the team behind Bradley Chubb in 2025. The Dolphins, conversely had just 39 as a team, which was good for 16th in all of football. Of course, the Dolphins went bargain hunting to replace their leading pass rusher in Chubb this offseason. They have not added much to the outside and are hoping for internal improvement from Chop Robinson, their former first-round pick.

They are also going to need Sieler to rediscover his form from the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Pressures are great. To use Hafley’s analogy, assists are great.

Late in the game, however, the world remembers who put the ball in the basket. Miami needs Sieler to put the ball in the basket more in 2026.