Freak Incident to Sideline Sieler

The Miami Dolphins will miss one of their best defensive players when they face the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Zach Sieler (92) celebrates following a sack against the Seattle Seahawks during the second quarter at Lumen Field. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

A nasty bit of bad luck has cost the Miami Dolphins one of their best defensive players for their next game — and possibly more.

Defensive lineman Zach Sieler will sit out the Week 8 game against the Arizona Cardinals because of an eye injury in practice on Thursday when he was poked in the eye.

"It was a first in my football history," McDaniel said. "He will not play this game, but timeline is unknown and that's kind of where it stands."

McDaniel said that Sieler would be week to week, which clearly suggests this wasn't your ordinary poke in the eye.

The craziest part of the story is that Sieler has never missed a game since joining the Dolphins as a waiver claim from the Baltimore Ravens in December 2019.

REPLACING SIELER NO EASY TASK

If we were to rank the players the Dolphins could least afford to lose on defense, Sieler undoubtedly would be near the top, if not the top.

His absence could potentially be even more damaging against the Cardinals, whose offense relies heavily on the running of James Conner. Conner is coming off a game in which he gained 152 combined yards on offense against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Sieler shares the team leads this season in sacks (2), quarterback hits (5), and even interceptions (one). Furthermore, he's a workhorse on the defensive line, playing 79 percent of the defensive snaps.

Quite simply, there is just no way to replace him.

With Sieler out, the Dolphins will likely have to elevate practice squad defensive tackle Neil Farrell, Jr., who has been with the team for exactly one month.

The Dolphins may also have to ask Calais Campbell to play more snaps, which is not ideal given that while Campbell has played great football so far this season, he's also 38 years old and has played at least 60 percent of the defensive snaps only twice in six games.

In addition to everything else, the Sieler injury occurred days after the Dolphins lost veteran Jonathan Harris from the practice squad when the Carolina Panthers poached him.

Harris would have made for a more reassuring replacement, with all due respect to Farrell.