Miami Gardens — The Miami Dolphins have crossed off a number of their offseason checklist items in the weeks and months leading up to the start of training camp, but they still have a couple of big ones remaining.
As Dolphins veterans get set to report to camp Tuesday and hold their first practice Wednesday, the team still hasn’t found a resolution to defensive tackle Zach Sieler’s contract situation and hasn’t made a marquee veteran free agent signing at a grave position of need, cornerback.
It’s now looking like neither of these two things will be resolved before players report with the clock steadily ticking.
This is life in the NFL, where there’s always something that needs doing. Last year, the Dolphins started camp with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, wide receiver Tyreek Hill and cornerback Jalen Ramsey all looking for new deals. The team caved to all three, but now, it appears to be taking a tougher stance against appeasing players looking for new deals.
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And it’s not as if general manager Chris Grier has just been twiddling his thumbs in the three months since the draft.
He first had bigger fish to fry, needing to find a trade partner for Ramsey and some resolution with tight end Jonnu Smith, who held out of voluntary organized team activities and mandatory minicamp this offseason. Take Smith’s pursuit of a new contract with the Dolphins as a prime example of Grier putting his foot down and standing firm.
He packaged the two in a trade to the Pittsburgh Steelers, which netted a return for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick back to the team.
On Friday, Miami settled another pending issue, signing second-round draft pick Jonah Savaiinaea to his contract. That was already on a slight delay as rookies reported to camp last Tuesday, but Savaiinaea was among second-rounders across the league vying for more guarantees in their contracts. The guard got his deal fully guaranteed.
Sieler has outplayed his contract every step of the way as a former seventh-round pick out of Ferris State who was claimed off waivers by the Dolphins back in 2019.
Most recently, he signed a three-year, $30.75 million extension ahead of the 2023 season, a deal made possible because his defensive linemate Christian Wilkins had his contract talks tabled.
Since, Sieler has put together back-to-back 10-sack seasons, exhibiting his interior pass rush to go with the run-stopping prowess. He now stands as the NFL’s 29th-highest-paid defensive tackle, and he’s way better than that. But the problem is he turns 30 on Sept. 7, the Sunday the Dolphins open the 2025 season against the Indianapolis Colts, and how much money does Miami want to commit to Sieler once he’s 32, 33 or 34?
Sieler reported to the team’s mandatory minicamp in June. He didn’t participate in team drills, but was active and engaged with teammates and went through individual portions of practice.
“He’s been in the building every single day during the offseason program,” coach Mike McDaniel said back in minicamp. “You will see him on the field doing some stuff. The length? Well, you’ll just have to hold your breath and see.”
That might just be the case again for training camp.
Cornerback is still a major question mark. It was once a foregone conclusion the Dolphins would add a starting-caliber veteran corner in free agency — with McDaniel and Grier even saying as much by noting the free agents that remained — but it’s now looking like the team may stick with what it has to start camp.
Rasul Douglas, Asante Samuel Jr., James Bradberry, Stephon Gilmore and former Dolphins cornerbacks like Kendall Fuller and Xavien Howard are among available free agent cornerbacks.
Among those names, all but Samuel are on the wrong side of 30, but Samuel is also coming back from a scary neck injury and has had his father, a former ballhawking cornerback by the same name, badmouthing Miami management earlier this month on a podcast.
The Dolphins currently have nickel Kader Kohou to lead their cornerback group. They’re hopeful to see development from 2023 second-round pick Cam Smith and 2024 undrafted free agent Storm Duck, while having others emerge from a group that includes offseason veteran pickups in Kendall Sheffield and Artie Burns, along with young prospects in Ethan Bonner, Jason Marshall, Jason Maitre, Isaiah Johnson, BJ Adams, Ethan Robinson and Ryan Cooper Jr.