Miami Dolphins add a familiar face in another step towards completing a total defensive line makeover in 2025

Stille joins Matthew Butler, who Miami landed off of waivers from the Raiders this spring, to infuse a few extra lottery tickets with the potential to serve as viable depth pieces to Miami’s rotation. Butler is a player who turns 26-years old next week and, like Stille, has played sparingly but clearly has an NFL frame. Can one of Miami’s best coaches, defensive line coach Austin Clark, work his magic with either one?

Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver is likely hoping so given his stated hopes for Miami’s defensive front in 2024. Ahead of last season, Weaver suggested Miami hoped to have a deep rotation.

“It’s kind of like the tsunami approach…they always say the first wave of the tsunami does damage, but the second wave does the most damage. So for me, sometimes people get overly concerned about who is starting the football games – that means nothing to me. I want to know who is finishing the football games. I think you’ve got your best chance at finishing football games when guys are fresh. You can’t do that at every position – particularly when there are bigs out there running around in this heat, you’re going to want to rotate them a little bit.” - Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver ahead of the 2024 season

Miami, despite the hoards of potential talent they collected last year, did not offer wave after wave of depth. As a matter of fact, they hardly rotated. Sieler played 748 snaps, Campbell played 615, Da’Shawn Hand played 563, and Benito Jones played 481. The next highest snap taker for an interior defensive lineman on the season was NT Brandon Pili, who logged 69 snaps on the year and was cut midway through the year.

Sieler, Grant, Jones, Phillips and Biggers feel like probable names to make this roster. If Stille or Butler can earn a spot and join them, the Dolphins should feel good about a youth-infusion that offers a mix of both talent and experience. It could bring the Dolphins a step closer to Weaver’s goal of a deep, physical group that can spell one another situationally. They took their medicine in April by choosing to invest in this group. And the fact that they’re still hacking away at the bottom of the roster suggests they’re serious about walking the walk in 2025.