BIG RAPIDS – Former Ferris State University football standout Zach Sieler is making an impact in the National Football League. This week he was named the most valuable player on his team, the Miami Dolphins.
Sieler was a two-time All-American for the Bulldogs and became Ferris State’s first NFL draft choice in 2018.
The team this week announced that Sieler, a defensive tackle from Pinckney, was selected to receive the Dan Marino Most Valuable Player Award, an honor voted on by South Florida media members who regularly cover the team.
Sieler, a 2024 team captain with the Dolphins, has led a defensive unit that ranks third across the NFL, while carrying the momentum from his career-best 2023 campaign to the 2024 season, consistently disrupting offensive backfields over the course of the year and delivering game-changing plays in pivotal moments on a weekly basis.
Sieler leads the 8-8 Dolphins in sacks with 8.5, tackles for loss with 12, and 17 quarterback hits while his 49 tackles are tied for the most among Dolphins defensive linemen. Sieler has also recorded an interception, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and two passes defensed.
Sieler’s sacks are the third-most among interior defensive linemen in the NFL, and he is the only interior defensive lineman in the NFL to record 8.5-plus sacks in each of the last two seasons.
Sieler was selected 238th overall in the 2018 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens after his career at Ferris State, where he joined the team as a walk-on. He played for the Ravens in parts of two seasons before moving the Dolphins in 2019.
Sieler graduated from Ferris State in December 2017 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology. He elected to forgo his final collegiate season to enter the draft after leading the Bulldogs to back-to-back NCAA Division II National Quarterfinal appearances in his collegiate career.
Sieler was an All-American in each of his final two seasons and twice received the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Defensive Lineman of the Year honor along with being chosen in both 2016 and 2017 as the Division II Conference Commissioners Association Super Region Defensive Player of the Year.
Sieler also was twice chosen as a national finalist for the Cliff Harris National Small College Defensive Player of the Year honors. He was successful in the classroom as well, being a three-time GLIAC All-Academic Team honoree.