Where Achane’s feats rank historically. And Dolphins playing time news, grades
De’Von Achane’s elite speed and lightning-quick feet keep pushing him to new historical feats. The Dolphins’ third-year running back added to his list of achievements during Sunday’s 21-17 win against New Orleans, a day in which he rushed for 134 yards (on 6.1 per carry) and scored his 33rd touchdown in 40 career games:
▪ Achane is on pace to finish with the second-most rushing yards in a season by a Dolphins player. His current pace would give him 1,464 yards on the ground, which would trail only Ricky Williams’ 1,853 in 2002.
Achane is also on pace to finish with the second-most scrimmage yards by a Dolphin in a single season. His 1,404 put him on pace for 1,989, which would beat out Tyreek Hill’s best season (1,814 in 2023) and trail only Ricky Williams’ 2002 season, when he had 2,216 scrimmage yards.
▪ Achane is now third in the league in rushing yards (1,034) — behind the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor (1,282) and Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs (1,228) — and per-carry average at 5.6, behind Gibbs’ 5.8 and Taylor’s 5.7.
▪ He’s the eighth player since the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger to produce at least 20 rushing touchdowns and at least 10 receiving touchdowns in his first 40 career games. He joins Marshall Faulk, Chuck Foreman, Marcus Allen, Christian McCaffrey, Ron Johnson, Alvin Kamara and Roger Craig in that elite company.
▪ Achane also became the fourth player in Dolphins history to rush for 1,000 yards in the first 12 games of the season, joining Larry Csonka (1972), Delvin Williams (1978) and Williams (2002 and 2003).
▪ He’s the 12th player in franchise history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season and just the third in the past 10 seasons, joining Jay Ajayi in 2016 (1,274) and Raheem Mostert in 2023 (1,012).
▪ Achane on Sunday cracked the top 10 on the Dolphins all-time rushing list, passing Delvin Williams and Mark Higgs for ninth most in franchise history.
At 2,741 yards, he trails Csonka (6,737), Ricky Williams (6,436), Ronnie Brown (4,815), Mercury Morris (3,877), Jim Kiick (3,644), Tony Nathan (3,543), Karim Abdul-Jabbar (3,063) and Lamar Miller (2,930).
▪ His 33 career touchdowns already are tied with Morris, Tony Nathan and Paul Warfield for the ninth most in franchise history. Achane is also the 22nd player in NFL history — and the first Dolphin — to score 10-plus touchdowns in each of his first three seasons in the NFL and one of two active players to do it, with Gibbs.
▪ Achane joined Mark Clayton (1984, 1986, 1988 and 1991) and Ricky Williams (2002-03 and 2009) as the only players in Dolphins history to have three or more seasons with 10-plus touchdowns.
▪ If Achane can somehow sustain his 5.6 career average for the duration of his NFL career, he would be tied with another active back (Gibbs) for the highest per-carry average in league history in the post AFL/NFL merger era, topping Jamaal Charles’ 5.4.
As perspective, two of the best running backs in history averaged below that — Jim Brown at 5.2, Barry Sanders at 5.0.
Offensive postscripts
▪ The Dolphins used Daniel Brunskill as a sixth offensive lineman on 19 of 60 plays on Sunday…. In his first game back from a pectoral injury, tight end Darren Waller played 28 of Miami’s 60 snaps, compared with 33 for Julian Hill and 22 for Greg Dulcich.
▪ Receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine’s snap count continued to decrease. He played 13 offensive plays, compared with 55 for Jaylen Waddle, 36 for Malik Washington, 10 for Cedrick Wilson Jr. and three for Dee Eskridge.
▪ At running back, Achane played 44 of 60 snaps, while Ollie Gordon II played 16 and Jaylen Wright 6.
▪ Among heavy-usage players, PFF ranked right guard Cole Strange, Dulcich and Achane as Miami’s best players on Sunday. Strange was rated Miami’s best run blocker and didn’t allow a quarterback hurry or sack…
PFF blamed Jonah Savaiinaea, Aaron Brewer and Patrick Paul for sacks, but Tua Tagovailoa should have gotten rid of the ball on at least two of them.
Defensive postcripts
▪ Chop Robinson started for only the second time in his career and played 45 of Miami’s 72 defensive snaps. Among the other edge rushers, Bradley Chubb played 58, Matthew Judon 37 and Cameron Goode one. Willie Gay Jr. played six.
PFF credited Chubb, Judon and Robinson each with three pressures.
Robinson finished with 1.5 sacks, three quarterback hits, five tackles and the game-ending stop of Saints quarterback Tyler Shough on the failed fourth-and-1 sneak in the game’s final minute.
▪ The Dolphins went with veterans in their defensive backfield instead of using rookies Dante Trader Jr. (five defensive snaps) and Jason Marshall Jr. (four).
Cornerbacks Rasul Douglas and Jack Jones played all 72 defensive snaps, while safety Minkah Fitzpatrick played 71, safety Ashtyn Davis 69 and Ifeatu Meliwonfu 56.
▪ Rookie defensive tackle Zeek Biggers played a career-high 31 defensive snaps, compared with 51 for Zach Sieler, 32 for Kenneth Grant, 22 for Jordan Phillips and 16 for Benito Jones.
▪ PFF rated Fitzpatrick, linebacker Jordyn Brooks and Sieler as Miami’s top three players on defense.
Here was my Sunday piece with thoughts on the game and looming Dolphins defensive decisions.
Here’s what Mike McDaniel said about Tua Tagovailoa’s play and other issues on Sunday.
Here’s what McDaniel said Monday about how Tagovailoa will be judged, plus injury updates and more.
This story was originally published December 1, 2025 at 1:03 PM.
