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Marcel Louis-Jacques, ESPN
MIAMI — Besides David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs of the Detroit Lions, no running back tandem rushed for more yards last season than the Miami Dolphins’ pairing of Raheem Mostert and rookie De’Von Achane.
Mostert turned in the first 1,000-yard rushing season of his career in 2023, with Achane rushing for 800 yards while averaging a league-leading 7.8 yards per carry. Both players return in 2024 to a running backs room that also has veterans Jeff Wilson Jr. and Salvon Ahmed and rookie Jaylen Wright, for whom the team traded up to draft.
While Mostert projects to lead the group this season, the workload behind him remains fluid.
“You wouldn’t be doing justice to the entire group if you were trying to crown this person or that person,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said, “but the whole group, pretty much led by Raheem, it is of quality and depth as good as I’ve been around — and I’ve been around a lot of good groups.
“I think that I have literally spent zero time trying to forecast that room because I recognize supreme competition when I see it, and the great news is instead of saying what I believe or forecast, I get to just watch and allow the players determine all that for us.”
While McDaniel said he hasn’t spent time trying to forecast the room, he’ll have plenty of time this summer to scheme ways to get them all involved in the offense. Achane, in particular, is a player for whom the third-year coach may need to get creative this season.
Achane led all Dolphins running backs with 37 targets and 27 receptions last season, turning them into 197 yards and three touchdowns. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the average depth of his 163 routes last season was 2.2 yards from the line of scrimmage; expanding his route tree could create opportunities for him in the passing game in 2024.
Whether through the air or on the ground, getting Achane the ball in space is a priority for the Dolphins. Last season, he led all running backs in average speed at the line of scrimmage at 12.2 mph, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. His 21.93 mph also led all running backs, and only Christian McCaffrey recorded more rushing yards over expectation than Achane’s 279.
“I think it’s an important offseason for him because you were just really hanging on by your coattails as a rookie in this league in general,” McDaniel said. “Year 2, you kind of let everything settle, understand much more of the whys of everything that you do and for him, the more he can understand within the offense, the more ways he can get the ball.
“He had outstanding ball production, some of which I know he feels specifically that there’s more out there from the opportunities he had last year and then being able to find different ways to get people the ball whether that’s different types of pass routes, whether that’s different types of run schemes that you can get comfortable with, all those things. More ways to be at the point of attack to play within this offense, that’s what this offseason really provides for him.”
Miami also figures to get Wright involved, considering it traded a 2025 third-round pick to select him in the fourth round this year. The Tennessee product ran a 4.38 40-yard dash prior to the draft, and his 7.4 yards per carry ranked second in the FBS last season.
Wright visited the Dolphins during the pre-draft process and spent time studying their offense. He said he feels tailor-made for McDaniel’s scheme.
“Just the way that they like to create space for the running backs, space for everybody,” Wright said. “They got the receivers to spread everybody out to make the defenses drop back in coverages and stuff like that. That just makes it better for the running backs. Just the system and everything we do, I feel like it’s perfect for me.”
Wilson and Ahmed appear to be the odd men out in the room, but both players can solidify roster spots with a strong training camp — something Ahmed has done in each of the past two seasons under McDaniel.
After finishing 31st and 25th in rushing attempts and yards, respectively, in 2022, the Dolphins recommitted to the run game in 2023 and recorded the sixth-most rushing yards in the league last season. With even more talent added to their running backs room in 2024, expect a similar commitment to the run game this season.
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