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The Miami Dolphins were on the bye in Week 10 and could emerge out of the break with one key figure reinstalled into their high-flying offense. Head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters Monday that the team is opening up the practice window for rookie running back De’Von Achane.
Miami now has 21 days to activate the third-round pick out of Texas A&M onto the 53-man roster or else he will revert to injured reserve for the remainder of the year. As of now, Achane can practice with the team without counting toward the roster, but it does sound like his return could come as soon as Week 11 when the Dolphins host the Raiders.
“Everything seems to be ready to go for today’s practice,” said McDaniel. “We’ll see how he does today, but I know that he’s eager to play football and not observe it like he has been.”
Achane landed on IR after suffering a knee injury in the team’s Week 5 win over the Giants. McDaniel told reporters Monday that the injury was more of a sprain in his knee rather than a tear. He didn’t feel like Achane would thrive playing with a brace, so the club opted to be more cautious with their explosive back and decided to put him on the shelf for four games to get fully healthy.
At the time he went down with the injury, Achane was second in the NFL rushing yards, only looking up to Christian McCaffrey in San Francisco. With just 38 rushing attempts, Achane was able to pile up 460 yards on the ground. That’s large in part due to his emergence in the three games leading up to his injury where he totaled 203, 101, and 151 rushing yards.
The Dolphins are 6-3 on the season and jockeying for first place in the AFC East, so getting a player of Achane’s ability should be tremendous down the stretch as well as help fantasy football managers during their own playoff push.