Dolphins expect Achane to play. And Butch Barry with insight on offensive line
News and notes from Friday’s media session with some Dolphins assistants, heading into Monday’s game at Pittsburgh (8:15 p.m., ESPN, CBS 4):
▪ If there was concern about Dolphins running back De’Von Achane’s availability for the Steelers game, there doesn’t appear to be much now.
Offensive coordinator Frank Smith said Achane — who left the Jets game with a rib injury — is expected to play Monday and has looked great in practice, though he has been wearing a red noncontact jersey.
Achane is fourth in the league in rushing yards and third in yards per carry.
Among his supreme attributes, Smith said, is his “vision and feel and instincts in space. When he’s running, he has elite instincts and feel to where people are and where they’re moving and using his acceleration and be able to cut.”
▪ And what does the coaching staff like about Jaylen Wright’s skill set?
“His ability to put his foot down and accelerate,” Smith said, noting that a 75-yard touchdown run in college, with Tennessee, caught their eye.
“He has high-end acceleration. He has power on contact. With zone runners, when they press the angle and make the cut, they [need to] have acceleration to make the cut.”
Wright has that; he’s coming off the first 100-yard rushing game of his NFL career. The Dolphins love how he has been practicing.
▪ The Dolphins’ offensive line is in the midst of its best stretch in a long time, creating lanes for a running game that has produced at least 160 yards each of the past four games. Offensive line coach Butch Barry offered insight on a few things about his group:
1). Left tackle Patrick Paul has become an elite pass blocker, allowing just 11 pressures and three sacks on 449 pass-blocking snaps, per Pro Football Focus. But is he playing up to Barry’s standards as a run blocker?
“A lot of plays it is,” Barry said. “Is it consistently there? We’ve got to keep working through that. He’s matured every week.”
With run blocking specifically, PFF ranks Paul 66th among 81 tackles.
2). Why do the Dolphins remain bullish on rookie left guard Jonah Savaiinaea, who continues to improve?
His “speed and power,” Barry said.
And from an intangible standpoint, the team loves his diligence and conscientiousness.
“The way he approaches his job is awesome,” Barry said. “He’s a very serious individual. He approaches it in the right manner. That hit me from OTAs. He takes meticulous notes, has a huge book of great notes.”
But he also remains something of a work in progress. “There’s so much more he has to get better at,” Barry said, adding that applies to other players, too.
For the first time in weeks, Savaiinaea is no longer PFF’s lowest rated guard. He’s now 80 of 81, ahead of Bengals rookie Jalen Rivers, a former Miami Hurricane.
3). Barry did not want to comment on ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky calling Aaron Brewer the best center in football.
But Barry said: “You see the work and the results match and that’s fun. You see his maturation as a leader and setting the standard, he exemplifies that. He and Austin Jackson exemplify that on a daily basis. He’s a great athlete, and there’s a lot we can do with his athleticism.”
This and that
▪ Even beyond the 2 1/2 sacks and forced fumble during the past two weeks, Chop Robinson’s overall game has improved with more snaps since the Jaelan Phillips trade, defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said.
“He’s a volume player; the more he’s out there the more you will feel him,” Weaver said. “The ball will find him.”
▪ After the Jets scored on a punt return touchdown last week, Craig Aukerman’s wife texted him that “he needs to coach better,” Aukerman said.
“I’m a perfectionist like our players; she’s a perfectionist too,” he said.
The takeaway from that play? “We need to do a better job of containing open field tackling,” he said. “We missed a tackle, and we didn’t contain it.”
Aukerman also was irritated by the Jets’ successful fake punt in the second half.
“Maybe I could have been in an eight-man front,” he said. “That’s the stuff that really irks me. I hate that.”
▪ Aukerman said the fact that Riley Patterson is kicking well hasn’t been a big factor in the decision to keep Jason Sanders on injured reserve while he heals from a hip injury.
“The thing we talk through is what’s best for Jason,” Aukerman said. “Is it Jason continuing to get better week by week where we can feel 100% confident and he feels 100 percent confident? We want to err on what’s best for him. It does help that Riley is doing well. [But] it’s what’s best for the player [Sanders].”
Patterson is 23 for 25 on field goals for 92%, sixth best in the league.
Mike McDaniel said Sanders “hasn’t had a setback. He’s capable of kicking footballs” but there’s “risk of further injury [with] exertion. You don’t want to do that too soon.”
Sanders hasn’t played in a game since a preseason hip injury.
This story was originally published December 12, 2025 at 11:56 AM.
