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Zach Sieler – January 6, 2025 Download PDF version

Monday, January 6, 2025

DT Zach Sieler

(Do you think there needs to be a higher standard, player-wise in terms of being at all things, being on time?) – “Absolutely, yep, I think so. Not to cut you off, but absolutely. And I think what (Mike) McDaniel does a great job of is preaching the player locker room and I think it needs to come from us as players and leaders and captains as well as the staff and get everyone here and get everyone working together from Day 1 in OTAs and camp and get things taken care of from Day 1, and take care of business to start fast next year.”

(Was that not done to the extent that it should have been by all the players?) – “There was things going on this year obviously, in the background that needed to get taken care of and some things could’ve been – we needed to be on our p’s and q’s earlier in the season and earlier in camp, and I think it’s a point of focus this year and we’re going to make sure we don’t mess that up again.”

(Having come from where you’ve been, some of this stuff has to drive you crazy. How tough is it though to speak up?) – “I think speaking up has been one of the things I’ve been working on my entire career. Me and Christian (Wilkins) talked a lot about that early on, obviously me coming from the waivers and kind of not doing much in the NFL early on. Like I told Barry (Jackson), it took me five years to get 10.0 sacks and two to get 20.0, so it’s just one of those things where I’m a leader on this team, I’m a veteran, I have my name now and to speak up with guys like (Bradley) Chubb and Calais (Campbell), (Emmanuel) Ogbah, (Jalen) Ramsey. All these guys on defense, we need to make sure that we’re holding everyone to a standard to be here from Day 1 to work as a unit and stay on top of things early on so that we’re not trying to play catch-up and we’re starting the season fast and we’re not playing from behind the eight-ball.”

(What was your reaction to WR Tyreek Hill yesterday saying he was opening the door for his future? I don’t know if you so those comments.) – “Yeah, I saw them. I think everyone has their own voice and if that’s what he wants to say, that’s what he wants to say. I have all the respect for him as a player. If that’s how he feels, that’s how he feels. So we’ll leave it at that.”

(Is it disappointing though when you guys are playing hard to the end, he’s not in in the fourth quarter and the first sign of adversity, he’s like “I’m out of here”?) – “I don’t know how the game went. I was on defense and I wasn’t watching the offense. I’m making our corrections so I don’t know. I haven’t even watched it yet to be honest with you, but yeah. Obviously, it’s a knee-jerk reaction. That stuff happens and I don’t know what happened. I’m not going to speak for him or speak on that. That’s his own decision, but I know as a team that we need to stay focused this year on making sure everyone’s here and making sure we’re on time and we’re focused on winning it all next year and making the corrections from this season going into OTAs and camp this year.”

(The other thing is Head Coach Mike McDaniel and General Manager Chris Grier are coming back. What are your thoughts on the coach and the GM that you’ve been here with?) – “I think those guys, I love those two. We had an amazing, just speaking of this year, an amazing rookie class coming in – Chop (Robinson), (Malik) Washington, (Jaylen) Wright, Storm (Duck). To come and do what they’re doing was incredible, so really excited to see that rookie class grow and everybody – players, coaches, everyone as a staff grow. I think we learned a lot this season and last season and hopefully this next year is the step we need to take to win it all.”

(How has Head Coach Mike McDaniel grown as a leader, as a head coach? Seeing him from his first year to Year 3?) – “Yeah, I think he’s always continuing to grow, just like we all are. If you’re not growing, you’re dying. And I think being comfortable with the uncomfortable is a big thing around here that we focused on too late, and I think now we have, sadly, to look back in from the outside in now. But hopeful we’ll go into next year kind of making those corrections on what we didn’t get done, what we need to get done and what we need to focus on as a team, as players and coaches.  Responsibility falls on all of us, right? So take it into this next season, get after it and holding everyone accountable, earlier on.”

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