Hafley on Achane: ‘He better be in good shape’
Mike Florio and Chris Simms react to Jeff Hafley's comments on De'Von Achane's workload in 2026, examining how Miami will use the star running back.
Video Transcript
Well, they are professional athletes.
They are strong, they are large, they are fast.
And in Miami, the consensus is they don't have enough of them.
What they've done is they are undergoing a dramatic cultural change where they moved on from players who weren't part of the solution, and they are building around the players that John Eric Sullivan, the new GM of the team, recently described to Joe Rose on WQAM as the pillars.
They've got three pillars.
They've got Aaron Brewer, the center, Jordan Brooks, the linebacker, and De'Von Achane- Mm-hmm the running back.
All three of them have gotten new contracts, and they believe that all three of them are the right kind of players and leaders that this roster should be built around moving forward.
Yeah, I, I can see that.
I can see that.
They're, th- they're damn good players.
They are that.
And, you know, I, I think with, y- you look at it, the big question, of course, is gonna be the quarterback, Malik Willis, and what he can do.
And of course, you know I think his talent is incredible, and the way he played last year in, in the preseason, the regular season, the year before that, it wasn't good, it was phenomenal.
It was great in every aspect.
So I'm excited for that, but yet, yeah, do they have enough around him?
And I think, you know, to what you're saying, and what we've laughed about with the Dolphins forever, is it feels like they're getting away from their mantra, which is a good thing, which is stareffery, right?
As you know I like to say.
"Hey, we got a star here."
Yes.
Oh, I know.
"We got a star here.
We don't have a team- I know but look at this star we got.
He looks great when we go to an event.
And we go to an event and we go, 'Hey, look at this star.'
But we overpay him and he can't play good football."
"Oh, really?
Is that why you guys aren't good in Miami?
Oh, damn.
I was wondering."
So John Eric Sullivan and Jeff Hafley, they got down there and they were like, "Damn, we got a bunch of stars that don't give a damn about the team, and the team is all over the place.
Let's build a football team."
And that's what they're gonna do.
They're gonna build around guys that they know have some talent, but love ball and are gonna work.
And Jordan Brooks and Brewer fit that.
I don't know De'Von Achane all that well, but certainly seems like a baller and wants the ball and to carry the workload.
So, we'll see where Miami is.
You're right, there's a lot of questions there because it's a lot of turnover on that team.
Shereen Williams vouches for De'Von Achane 'cause he went to Texas A&M.
Oh, shocker.
She vouches for anyone- Shocker.
Yeah, right who went to Texas A&M.
Yeah, right.
All right.
so last year, De'Von Achane had a career high 305 touches, 238 carries, 67 catches.
That is a heavy workload.
Here is Jeff Hafley, the new head coach of the Miami Dolphins, on the Rich Eisen Show, talking about the anticipated workload for De'Von Achane in 2026.
I just gave Achane a heads-up this morning and, told him he better be in good shape, 'cause I told him there might be some games where I have to pick him up and carry him back into the locker room 'cause he's gonna be so tired.
And I told him I don't ever wanna see one of these head taps all year.
And he looked me right in the eye and said, "You'll never get that head tap from me."
I said, "Don't worry, buddy.
After you touch the ball 40, 45 times, I'm gonna have to pick you up and I'll carry you back into the locker room."
Oh, that's really good.
Yep.
And you know, that reminds me of a very famous Dolphins playoff game that didn't work out well for the Dolphins, the Chargers game.
Before you were even born, Kellen Winslow Sr.
Being helped off the field after he had- I was born an incredible- I was alive there workload.
Were you born then?
Yeah, I was born in '80.
'81?
Yeah.
Weren't you Oh, you were born in '81?
I was born Yep, yep.
'80.
'80, okay, you were alive.
That used to get me- You were alive 'cause- I don't know why I was thinking '79 that game used to get me- Yeah, it was '81 because, like, you know, at one point, you know how the NF Remember the NFL Channel used to do, like, top 10 this, top 10 that?
And it was, like, top 10 gutsiest performances once, right?
You know, dealing with injuries.
So I'm like, I turned it on one time, and I was like, well, clearly I'm gonna be on this list.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, I'm the only guy that almost died on the field and finished the game.
And I, you know, I always have fun.
I go, "Damn, Kellen Winslow's on it?
I mean, what the hell?
What, he's on it 'cause he went out drinking and partying in South Florida the night before, and he's cramping in the game to finish it out?
Like, what the hell?
What the hell, NFL Channel?"
I gave them all crap for a while when I see him, and I don't really know if that's true with Kellen Winslow.
I'm just having fun with it.
But regardless- We don't know.
I just wanna make sure- We don't know our lawyers have- Yes, yes have informed us- Yes i.e.
Me, we do not know that Kellen Winslow was doing the Max McGee routine the night before- Very well done the game in Miami- Exactly and that he was inebriated- hungover, and that's why he was dehydrated during the game.
We don't know.
We don't know.
All we know is it was a heroic performance, and they were carrying him off the field, in the same way- Jeff Hafley plans to be carrying De'Von Achane- Yeah off the field.
And hey, look, they've made the investment.
You know, this came up yesterday.
I was on radio somewhere, and it was the question of, you know, once you pay a guy This was Monday.
I was on in Baltimore with Glenn Clark.
Once they pay Zay Flowers, now there's this worry that Zay Flowers gets injured, the team's gonna have to pay all this money.
Well, that's why you shift the injury risk from the player to the team.
That's why the player wants to get paid.
The player wants the team to bear the consequences of the injury.
So I look at it this way.
They say you break it, you bought it.
Well, the Dolphins have bought it, now they can break it if they- That's right wanna use De'Von Achane.
It's their call.
It's their prerogative.
If they want to run the risk that he's gonna get injured, that's their risk.
Now, they need to be sensitive to player health and safety, but just overall wear and tear, and how much it's going to impact his ability to play.
And we're not talking about head trauma, we're talking about I mean, it's the full body experience- Yeah but they're gonna have to make the decisions about how they wanna balance this risk, because they're paying for the risk.
They're paying if the guy's injured and he can't play.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
So that's their call.
Hey, I, I mean, you, you always gotta be careful, but teams usually are, "Hey, we paid him.
Let's get our money's worth out of him.
Now let's do that."
And you got a defensive coach here who we just talked about, who, yeah, the defense, the offense is kind of being retooled and refurbished that way to I don't know if you're gonna be able to expect them to score 30 points a game.
They're gonna play that style of football.
And usually in these cases, once the player's been paid, he welcomes it.
He wel- It's like, "Hey, I You're paying me.
I'm the man.
Give me the damn ball."
And I think De'Von Achane would probably b- fit right in that mold.
So yeah, I, I expect him to get a lot of carries.
And, you know, with Bobby Slowik running the offense, again, another Shanahan disciple guy.
Well, they're gonna try to run the football, and I think Jeff Hafley's gonna make sure they do, and they got one of the best running backs in the game, to do that.
He had 11 touchdowns as a rookie, 12 in his second season, 12 in his third season, and last year, 1,818 yards from scrimmage.
He is not far away from being up there with Gibbs and Robinson as the best running backs in the NFL right now.
I, I- He really isn't I, I agree.
And he, he may be having some remorse for agreeing to the deal he agreed to after he sees what, and saw what Robinson and Gibbs got.
I, I would think him and Kenneth Walker a little bit, like, "Damn, what?"
Breece Hall, another one, that's probably like, "What?
Damn, that's what they got?"
All of those.
But yeah, that's Th- there's some good running backs in, in football right now.
That's what we're talking about.
That's where I kind of like B- I, I, for me, and, and I had this, I know, talk to you last week, but I, you know, you go through it.
I kind of blew my lid last week when I saw, you know, Bleacher Report had Christian McCaffrey at the fourth-best running back in football.
I was like, "Dude, no way.
No chance.
No way.
Absolutely not."
Now, no way.
There is some good young studs at the RB position in the prime of their careers, and De'Von Achane is certainly one of them.
And yes, I would take De'Von Achane over Christian McCaffrey right now, all day, every day, twice on Sunday, no doubt
