The Dolphins have placed DeVon Achane on IR with a knee injury, a blow to those who have him (and a boon for those yet to face him). He'll miss at least the next four games. But Miami itself should be fine.
Achane's a talent, using his speed to run around the edge for long runs most other backs aren't capable of. But Miami will plug in a different second running back to pair with Raheem Mostert, and still have two good running backs in their offense.
That was the case a year ago, and this offense is operating at an even higher level now.
Miami opened with a Mostert-Chase Edmonds tandem last year, and finished with a Mostert-Jeff Wilson (pictured) tandem. They had two good running backs in a lot of weeks.
Table shows the running back numbers (run, rec, TDs) from those two tandems each week last season. Not league-winning totals, but good to great in a lot of weeks (and they're running it better right now).
| MIAMI TOP 2 RBS, 2022 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Run | Rec | TD | Player | Run | Rec | TD |
| Edmonds | 25 | 40 | 0 | Mostert | 16 | 16 | 0 |
| Edmonds | 33 | 8 | 0 | Mostert | 51 | 28 | 0 |
| Edmonds | 21 | 6 | 2 | Mostert | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| Edmonds | 6 | 14 | 1 | Mostert | 69 | 12 | 0 |
| Edmonds | 1 | 0 | 0 | Mostert | 113 | 9 | 1 |
| Edmonds | 3 | 28 | 0 | Mostert | 49 | -1 | 0 |
| Edmonds | 17 | 0 | 0 | Mostert | 79 | 30 | 1 |
| Edmonds | 14 | 0 | 0 | Mostert | 64 | 3 | 0 |
| Wilson | 51 | 21 | 1 | Mostert | 26 | 0 | 1 |
| Wilson | 119 | 24 | 1 | Mostert | 65 | 22 | 1 |
| Wilson | 39 | 13 | 1 | Mostert | out | out | out |
| Wilson | 3 | 0 | 0 | Mostert | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| Wilson | 26 | 0 | 0 | Mostert | 37 | 7 | 0 |
| Wilson | out | out | out | Mostert | 136 | 20 | 0 |
| Wilson | 37 | 3 | 1 | Mostert | 45 | 4 | 0 |
| Wilson | 45 | 31 | 0 | Mostert | 29 | 62 | 1 |
| Wilson | 72 | 2 | 0 | Mostert | 71 | -10 | 0 |
| Total | 512 | 190 | 7 | Total | 891 | 202 | 5 |
The million-dollar question is who that second running back will be. We're going with Wilson, who clearly proved he could do it a year ago. For Week 6, there's a possibility it will be Salvon Ahmed, with Wilson not officially activated off IR. But that's the expectation. Wilson, clearly, should be added, for those who have waivers running tonight.
--Andy Richardson