MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Miami Dolphins running back De’Von Achane is a big-time question mark to play in Week 12, although Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel refused to rule the running back out for Friday’s game against the New York Jets.
Achane will not require surgery and will play again in 2023.
“It’s pretty much day-to-day,” McDaniel said Monday, less than 24 hours after Achane reinjured the knee that kept him out of the last four games.
The Latest on Miami Dolphins RB De’Von Achane
McDaniel on Sunday told reporters that someone fell on the same knee that Achane had hurt last month. Achane lobbied to return to the game, but McDaniel held him out because “we just didn’t want to mess with him.”
Achane lasted just three plays in his first game back from injured reserve before his latest injury. That left the Dolphins with just Raheem Mostert and Salvon Ahmed as the team’s available running backs, as Jeff Wilson Jr. was a healthy scratch.
Miami struggled to run the ball with that tandem, averaging 3.5 yards per carry with no rush longer than 10 yards.
“There’s an added variable of this is a new process with this player, so we’re trying to feel it out,” McDaniel said of Achane. “We’re working together to try to do what’s right. … I wouldn’t say we’re adjusting as much for the schedule as we are for the player and the situation. You don’t want to put a guy in a situation where his best isn’t up to his own standard.”
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Added Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle: “He took it on the chin,” said of Achane Monday. “It comes with playing in this game. He’s going to be back and better than ever.”
Up next? A Jets team that has been surprisingly generous on the ground this year. New York ranks 30th in rushing yards allowed (137.6 per game) and 19th in yards per carry (4.2).
The Dolphins could potentially get back rookie Chris Brooks, who is eligible to return off injured reserve this week, but McDaniel didn’t commit to it.
“We look forward to when it makes the most sense for him and the football team to have him come back,” he said.
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