Achane ‘drew a line in the sand’ with Dolphins
Mike Florio and Chris Simms discuss De'Von Achane not reporting to the first day of Dolphins voluntary workouts and examine the running back market in 2026.
Video Transcript
Running back Devonte Chan did not show up for the first day of the Miami off-season program in the first year of the Jeff Hafley, John Eric Sullivan regime.
And I've seen some, and we see this every year, "Oh, it's voluntary.
Oh, it's voluntary" Yeah, but there are certain moments that are important.
The first day that the coach has access to the team in a meeting, if you're not there, you better have a reason for it.
And the reason for Devonte Chan, obviously, is he's not happy with his contract.
They act like he's untouchable, that he's untradeable, that they're not gonna move him.
Okay, fine.
Then you gotta pay him.
This is one of those positions where the wear and tear builds up, the tread comes off the tire, your best years often happen before you get your second contract.
A-Chan is drawing the line in the sand, he wants to get his contract now, and one of the leverage points he has available is to withhold services, especially when there's no financial consequence to doing so.
Yeah, this is one of the things players can use.
Like you've said a million times, there's only so many tools the players have here in these situations.
He's one of the most explosive running backs in football, and he's one of those guys that we talk about as special.
And explosive plays have gone up into another category in the NFL.
They're more important now than ever before.
And this guy's one of the most explosive play-playmakers in all of football.
He's one of those guys that we always kind of joke about.
Anywhere, anytime.
He can score from anywhere, anytime on the field.
He's phenomenal in the pass game, on top of what he does in the run game.
So I understand the Dolphins wanted to keep him.
Him and Malik Willis in the backfield, that's gonna give defenses a headache.
"Wait, did Malik keep it?
Oh, did he give it to A-Chan?
Wait, Malik's got a big arm downfield.
Oh, wait, A-Chan's underneath."
So that, that's There, there's, there's great possibility here.
But I love that A-Chan's doing this.
I feel like all good running backs, after year three, it just has to be done.
This is where I almost wish the league would just change the rule and go, "After three years, running backs are allowed to get new contracts, period, blah, blah," and just, just move on.
But A-Chan is damn good, and, you know, I would hope they can get something done here.
Y- you know, like you said too, though, the only guys that miss the first day of these are, like, older veterans where they trust them, they know what they've been, they know what they do, and okay, you miss the first day.
Calais Campbell.
Oh, Trent Williams.
Just, you know, giving that kind of player example.
Like, you've been around forever, okay, you're gonna miss the first week or whatever because you got some other things in life to take care of.
We'll see you next week.
Everybody else that misses, there's usually a problem or something going on there, to your point.
Especially the first day for a new coach.
Yeah, new coach is another thing, too.
I think everybody- Yeah would be wise to be there.
You wanna be there.
There's a new boss.
He's meeting with us for the first time.
I would want to do whatever I had to do to be there for that, unless there's a message I wanna send through my absence, and that's what Devonte Chan is doing, and the message clearly has been received by the Dolphins.
John Eric Sullivan told us last week in Arizona that they're trying to get him signed, they're working on it, and, you know, if they can't, then now's the time to trade him.
But either way, he needs to insist on getting paid.
We've talked at length in the past about different ways to get money to running backs while they are in their prime production years, early in their careers.
Big yards, big numbers, touchdowns, et cetera, and they get peanuts.
And I know there's a way to pay them on the back end just based upon playing time, that performance-based pay- Yeah incentive.
The NFL, within the past couple of weeks, announced the, the full list of extra checks that guys get.
I've suggested there should be a league-wide pool that pays running backs based upon attempts and yards and, and touchdowns, and everything.
What you do early in your career when you're under that slotted rookie contract, especially if you're a late round pick, that's when you need to get paid because you're adding benefit to the game.
The game benefits from it, not just the team, the game benefits from having these young, cheap running backs who become stars, sell jerseys, they're Fantasy Football- Yeah icons.
Mm-hmm.
All that stuff, it's good for the game.
And by the time these guys are in a position to get paid, a lot of them You know, look at Isaiah Pacheco.
$1.2 million- Yeah on a one-year deal to be the backup to Jahmyr Gibbs in-
