MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Miami Dolphins running back De’Von Achane on Monday practiced for the first time since spraining his knee five weeks ago. And there’s compelling reason to believe the rookie RB will be available for this Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Why?
He would have already returned to action if the Dolphins were not so philosophically cautious with injuries.
Miami Dolphins RB De’Von Achane Returns to Practice
The Dolphins officially designated Achane for return from injured reserve Monday, making him the sixth of a maximum of eight such designees in 2023. The roster move gives Miami three weeks to decide whether to clear Achane to play or keep him on IR for the rest of the season.
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Option A is almost certainly the play. Achane looked spry during the portion of practice open to reporters, and if all goes well this week, he should be bumped up to the 53-man roster ahead of Sunday’s game.
Big news on the De’Von Achane front from Mike McDaniel pic.twitter.com/PLZyRc9MHD
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) November 13, 2023
On Monday, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel went into the most detail yet about how Achane went from finishing the Dolphins’ Week 5 game to missing the next month of football.
“There wasn’t tearing; it was more a sprain-type injury,” McDaniel said. “The thing that you do if you really [want to] minimize the time off the field, is in those situations [is] throw a brace on the knee and have them go.
“And, you know, I just didn’t really envision him being one that would really flourish with the brace. So we took the time to make sure that we could get structurally completely strong, and we erred on the side of caution with that.
“… We’ll see how he does today. I know he’s eager to play football and not observe it like he has been.”
When healthy, Achane is one of the league’s most dynamic running backs. Despite appearing in just four games, he ranks second both on the team and among all NFL rookies with 460 rushing yards on just 38 carries. Achane also has five rushing touchdowns in his very young career.
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