- 2 days ago
Reacting to comments made today at Dolphins camp by DL Zach Sieler claiming he deserves more money.
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00:00I was just reading something during the commercial break from Chris Perkins at the Sun Sentinel.
00:05I thought it was interesting.
00:07The headline interested me, so I was trying to read it quickly because he says, Chris Perkins says,
00:12the Dolphins' Zach Seeler deserves an extension for who he is, not what he is.
00:19And as I peruse it, Dolphins' defensive tackle Zach Seeler doesn't deserve a raise just because he's a high-quality football player
00:27who has back-to-back 10-sack seasons and was voted team MVP last season.
00:32Seeler doesn't deserve a raise just because he's a high-quality guy.
00:36Make no mistake, he's both of those, and they're both part of the reason the Dolphins should extend his contract.
00:42But to me, Seeler, who turns 30 on September 7th, deserves a raise because he also embodies everything this franchise wants,
00:52this team wants, this community wants.
00:54On a team searching for culture change, Seeler exemplifies the mountaintop.
01:00On a team that's been accused of financially disrespecting players searching for a new contract,
01:06Seeler could represent a break from that narrative.
01:09In short, this isn't about money, this is about respect.
01:14Seeler is a hard worker, a self-made guy who came up from the NFL ashes.
01:19You know his story.
01:20He's a 2018 7th-round pick by Baltimore, who was a walk-on at Division II Ferris State in Michigan.
01:29After being cut by the Ravens in December 2019, he was signed by the Dolphins.
01:34He and his wife drove to South Florida in an RV that doubled as their home.
01:39Since then, he's worked his way into the starting lineup and become one of the NFL's most productive interior defensive linemen over the last two years.
01:47He's been more productive than fellow defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, a good friend, ex-Dolphins teammate, and former first-round pick,
01:56who's now with Vegas on a four-year, $110 million contract.
02:00You've got to respect Seeler's journey, his perspective, and his selflessness.
02:05We have more than we ever imagined, Seeler said Thursday.
02:09I'm beyond blessed for these last seven years alone.
02:12My wife and I love how our life has turned out.
02:15It's been just awesome.
02:16Now, I do feel that respect coming, and I think I've earned it, and I know I've earned it.
02:23And he goes on to speak today, and Chris Perkins writes,
02:25That quote is one of the big reasons I favor giving Seeler a contract extension.
02:31Seeler has certainly been respected by the Dolphins in many ways.
02:34They gave him a three-year, $30 million contract extension in 2023, but he deserves more respect.
02:42Don't get it twisted.
02:43This is an attempt to canonize Seeler or make him into some larger-than-life being.
02:49He's human.
02:49He has faults as everyone else.
02:51This is intended to say Seeler's impact and influence goes beyond the field, the locker room,
02:58and meeting rooms, and delves into the realm of setting a good example, which this team needs.
03:05For example, one of the things Seeler mentioned a few times Thursday was he's here because this
03:11is a critical time for team building and setting a tone that lasts throughout the season.
03:15He feels it's more important to be here and be an essential part of that tone setting
03:20rather than sitting out worried about money.
03:24Oh, and here's something else.
03:25Seeler could have opted for a hold-in, a technique some players utilize when they want more money.
03:31Instead of a hold-out during which a player doesn't report to training camp and subjects himself
03:35to fines and risks being a distraction to the team, a hold-in entails showing up and participating
03:41in some drills, but not all drills.
03:44Players usually sit out the 11-on-11s when injury risk is the highest.
03:48First, Chris Perkins continues, the Dolphins will likely put on pads next week or in early
03:56August.
03:56That's when Seeler's injury risk increases.
04:00He declined to say today whether he'd utilize hold-in techniques when the pads come on, which
04:05Wilkins did in 2023.
04:07We're not there yet.
04:09I'm not going to speculate.
04:10But right now, I'm out there with the guys.
04:12I'm going to keep being out there with the guys, and we're going to keep growing as a unit.
04:15In other words, Seeler is choosing to put the team's needs ahead of his own needs.
04:21He's always operated in such an unselfish fashion.
04:26That's another reason he deserves a contract extension.
04:31First off, him doing media availability and portraying this is genius for his contract negotiations.
04:37He just got a great column from Chris Perkins.
04:42I mean, because you do that, you give to the media that kind of access and tell them what
04:48you're actually feeling.
04:49And if it resonates, which it obviously did with Chris Perkins, I mean, that does Zach Seeler
04:56a whole hell of a lot of good.
04:57Yeah.
04:57So that was genius on his side.
04:59I think he's with Drew.
05:02Is he with Drew?
05:03I believe so.
05:03But whoever his agent is, that was genius.
05:05He's with Drew, right?
05:05Yeah, and Drew knows what he's doing.
05:07No, no, no, no, no.
05:08Don't act mad.
05:09Go talk to him and just say you want a new contract, but you love to be here.
05:13You love to set the tone, be here for your teammates.
05:15So I do think he's a genuine guy, but that was a genius move business-wise.
05:20And you know, I'm always on to just do your damn job.
05:22Be a good football player.
05:23He is a good football player.
05:25But there is something to the locker room, as we've seen, the lack of leadership and all
05:31that stuff, that change of culture.
05:34Look, who is it?
05:35And these are all going to be great players.
05:36Buffalo.
05:37That's who keeps one of the AFCs.
05:39Josh Allen, Deion Dawkins, Tredavious White, when he was there.
05:42Like, they were the team.
05:44They had that tough mentality.
05:46The Eagles, Jalen Hurts and Lane Johnson.
05:50And when Jason Kelsey was there, you knew what they were about.
05:54Talking about, like, finding an identity?
05:56I can go through all the top teams.
05:57The Ravens.
05:59We're going to run the ball.
05:59Yeah, so we have Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson here.
06:02And we have a bunch of badass defenders.
06:04This is what we do.
06:06We're trying to find an identity.
06:07You need some guys to find an identity around.
06:10The track meet thing was cute until the track meet thing stopped working.
06:15So Tua, Tyreek, Waddle, we're going to be doing A-chan, the fastest team in the league.
06:18But we're not winning any playoff games.
06:20So I think they do need something solid on the defensive side of the ball.
06:25Because I honestly, I told y'all, I can't name their linebackers right now.
06:31They have to pay him just based on this.
06:33You talk about identity.
06:35When you think back to the 2023 team, we're all in agreement, right?
06:38Since the rebuild started in whatever, 2018, 2019, the best team the Dolphins have had was in 2023.
06:44When you think back to that team, nobody's here anymore outside of Waddle, Tyreek Hill, and Tua.
06:51Just think about the leaders of the team, right?
06:54Like the guys who, when you think of that team, when you think of the Dolphins, were like the lifeline, the heart of that team.
07:01Everybody's gone.
07:02Tron Armstead is gone.
07:04Robert Hunt is gone.
07:06Christian Wilkins, Raekwon Davis, Andrew Van Ginkle, Jerome Baker, David Long, Xavier Howard, Jalen Ramsey, Javon Holland.
07:15They're all gone.
07:16And the only person who remains, who you look at and you say, that's our guy.
07:22Tua Tungavailoa, Jalen Waddle, Tyreek, but that's kind of murky right now.
07:28And Zach Seeler.
07:29That's it.
07:30When you say, that's our guy, the Ravens gave up on him, we brought him here, and he became an NFL starter, that caliber of player.
07:40He made himself known.
07:42And now, you let all those guys walk, or you cut them, or you traded them.
07:48You can't do the same.
07:49Or couldn't sign them because of prohibitive contracts.
07:51Right.
07:51You can't do the same with everybody.
07:54Like, at a certain point, you have to pay somebody.
07:56But do they have enough money to pay him what he wants?
08:01I don't know if he's tilting at windmills.
08:03Like, I don't know if they have it.
08:05To give him a big contract.
08:07And to your point, those names that should have been on that list are Jalen Phillips.
08:12But I think due to injury, you don't put him on that list because he just, he's not out there enough.
08:15He's the hell of a, he might be our best defensive player.
08:18Bradley Chubb injured.
08:20Chop Robinson too young.
08:21He hasn't done enough to be that.
08:23Like you're saying, those staples.
08:24Like, when I think about defensive staples, you're talking about Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor and guys like that.
08:29We don't have those guys right now.
08:31Where, they're the offense, they're going to be here.
08:34That's the defense, and we're going to put eight guys around them.
08:37I wonder too, if Steven Ross and, you know, Chris Greer, even though I think he'd be part of it, are saying,
08:42Hey, let's not do anything out of control with any of these guys.
08:47Because if it goes south this year, we are blowing this thing up.
08:51That has to be a conversation.
08:54Has to be.
08:55For sure.
08:55And maybe it's not necessarily a conversation with Chris Greer because he'd be part of the implosion,
09:00but that could be Steven Ross's thought process when it comes to Jonu Smith and Zach Seeler or whatever.
09:06Just like, Hey, I, I gotta see, I gotta see at least seven games this season because I am going to blow this thing to smithereens.
09:15If they're two and five after seven games.
09:19You know, we talked about it.
09:21If they, like you're saying, if they're seven and 10 and don't make the playoffs, I think they have to blow it up.
09:26But what if they are nine and eight, get a wild card and lose to a Ravens or somebody like that?
09:33Is that blowing up?
09:35Cause you're still sitting right at five for me.
09:36Cause you know, I didn't feel like blowing it up after this season.
09:39So, you know, like if, if they're in the playoffs, if they're in the post season, to me, you're closer to being a Superbowl team.
09:45Then you are starting from scratch.
09:47The place that will be uncomfortable for me with that conversation, the bills are going to go 12 and five or something better.
09:54What if they go 10 and seven?
09:57Don't, they don't win the division.
09:58Cause the bills are just very, very good.
10:00Now you go to the playoffs and you still don't want to playoff game, but you were 10 and damn seven.
10:05Like that's where I would sit on that fence.
10:07I'm pretty much, I'm pretty much good enough with that.
10:10But now it used to, it's so terrible.
10:13It was the Patriots for years.
10:15The Patriots were going to win the AFC East and the Dolphins are trying to get a wild card.
10:19Soon as Tom Brady's ragged ass went to Tampa.
10:22Now this Josh Allen comes and starts winning the AFC East.
10:25Like we can't, we can't win for losing.
10:27But, but I agree with, Hey, like sometimes you just chalk it up to that, right?
10:32Like Tom Brady, but you can't go seven years with this guy, with the same person leading your organization.
10:41And the results are status quo, status quo, status quo.
10:46So when you're 25 years into your organization, not winning a playoff game and not just say, well, we got to try something different.
10:53Cause clearly like this just isn't going anywhere.
10:55So if the Dolphins go 10 and seven and they don't win a playoff game, you like, if you're Steven Ross and you say, well, Josh Allen is Josh Allen.
11:05And at the very least we had a winning season and we looked better.
11:09You got to be crazy to just say, we'll try that again.
11:12Start it all over.
11:14If you were 10 and seven and made the post season, even as a wild card team, you would say, you know what?
11:20I wanted to win the Superbowl.
11:23We didn't, we got to start over.
11:25But Hawk, to answer that question, you have to look at your, you know, your, your, your, your comrades and look around the league.
11:35The lions were garbage.
11:37Dan Campbell's gets there.
11:39And they're now they're going to the NFC championship every single year.
11:42The damn commanders.
11:44They draft Jane Daniels, bring in Dan Quinn.
11:46And now they're going to NFC championship games, bro.
11:49The Eagles, the Eagles won a Superbowl in 2018, then did a whole regime change two years later.
11:56Then we're back in the Superbowl lost, then rebuilt their franchise.
12:00And we're back in the Superbowl again, three Superbowl appearances in the same timeframe that Chris Greer took over single-handedly had the reins of this franchise and has made two playoff appearances yet to win a playoff game.
12:15And nothing to show for it.
12:19So I understand what Hawk is saying.
12:21You go, you go 10 and seven, and you're going to say, it's cutting off your nose and bite your face.
12:26Like, right.
12:26But, but Hawk, you would agree.
12:28You have to look at a sample size also and say seven seasons where you're not closer to the ultimate goal.
12:34I get it.
12:35But you are close, but you are closer if you're 10 and seven.
12:39But if you're getting to that Superbowl, but, but you take yourself further away.
12:44If you blow it all up and try something new, try something new, the Texans, the Texans are going to the divisional games.
12:52Commanders, like commanders go to the conference championship after two years of Dan Quinn.
12:59I'm not arguing that there's been no results because that's inarguable.
13:02I'm just saying, if you do happen to go 10 and seven and you're in the playoffs, what a weird time to go.
13:10We gave it a shot this season.
13:11Didn't win the Superbowl.
13:12Let's start over.
13:14Fans, sorry about it, but we'll talk to you in 2029 when we think we have this thing together.
13:19Like, I just don't see any organization.
13:22I see an organization who's had recent success doing that, but it's been 25 years since a playoff win, something like that.
13:32Like, you can't start over if you feel like you're getting closer.
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14:20So Hawk, and this is, to this conversation, Mike McCarthy in Dallas, 21-12-5, 22-12-5, 23-12-5, lost in a wild card, lost division, lost in a wild card.
14:36They fired him.
14:38Yes.
14:39Their standards are higher than our standards.
14:42I'm not suggesting that you could go 10 and seven, make a wild card game and not win a playoff game and that it would be unheard of to fire the coach.
14:52I'm not suggesting that I'm talking about, Hey, get rid of Zach Seeler, get rid of Tua.
14:59Like I'm talking about blowing it up roster wise.
15:03Yeah.
15:03I don't know.
15:06I think you could keep Zach Seeler.
15:07I don't think he's the, I don't think he's the type of guy that you would, you would move on.
15:12Why would you have a giant contract with someone?
15:14He wants a giant contract.
15:15Why would you have a giant contract with someone that, you know, you're not going to win anything in the next two, three seasons as you rebuild.
15:22But Zach Seeler isn't Christian Wilkins.
15:24He's not somebody who's going to say, I want five years, $200 million, whatever it would be 200.
15:31Well, because he's not like he, he, he's not comparable to Christian Wilkins, who was drafted by a team in the first round.
15:37And, but he's got better numbers, better numbers.
15:41He's not, he also can't be the 30th highest paid interior D lineman in the NFL, which is what he is right now.
15:47So I think you can work with a guy like Zach Seeler, who's been through it all in the NFL.
15:53Somebody who's literally cut by a roster, found a spot in Miami, has become a cornerstone player in this franchise.
16:00You could work with him and say, Hey, we'll make you the 12th highest paid interior D lineman in the NFL.
16:06And we'll pay you a bunch of money up front right now.
16:10So that, you know, we're not paying you five years.
16:13The money to pay a bunch of money up front.
16:16They've got the money.
16:17Well, we'll talk about Omar Kelly about it this hour.
16:19I'll tell you, it's not Zach Seeler.
16:20You cannot have Waddle and Tyreek both making $30 million a year.
16:26That's the way he had to sacrifice.
16:27You can't have Bradley Chubb and Jalen Phillips now who has to get paid.
16:31You can't keep $30 million guys like that.
16:33It's not that easy.
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