The Miami Dolphins and their fans didn't have much to be excited about this season. De'Von Achane was one of the few bright spots, and certainly the most electrifying playmaker on offense, but he suffered a torn ACL in Week 3 and is out for the season.
Ollie Gordon II was the only other active running back for Sunday's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. That's laughable roster/active player management by rookie head coach Jeff Hafley.
Like, cool, Gordon is a hard, thickly built runner, but he only had 41 yards on 17 carries. He averaged 2.8 yards per carry last season, too. Come on. That's what we're rolling with? Really?
You're not gonna believe this, but Gordon had to leave the Chiefs game for a spell due to cramping! Slot wideout Malik Washington was the only other viable tailback for Miami to turn to.
Meanwhile, Jarquez Hunter, whom the mighty Los Angeles Rams thought enough of to draft in the fourth round once upon a time, is chilling on the practice squad. Why that was the case, and why the Fins are so reluctant to deploy him after trading for him, is beyond my comprehension.
Achane's ACL injury underscores Miami Dolphins misguided plans for him
...But who knows. Maybe the Dolphins' new regime just knows better than us ignorant outsiders. If you ask me, gutting the entire roster to the extent that they did reeked of hubris. As did asking De'Von Achane to take on such a workhorse touch load. Hafley likely would've pushed the bounds to the utmost extreme to the extremes if Achane stayed healthy.
Anyway, it sucks that Achane is gone for the season. The entertainment value of the 2026 Miami Dolphins as we know it has been completely sucked bone-dry. Now, Malik Willis has to play the quarterback position with a perpetually on-tilt hero complex.
I get that Achane just signed an extension. Running him into the ground was never a good plan. Do the Dolphins just hate their other in-house backs that much?
Why Hunter could be the Dolphins' backfield committee anchor for the rest of this season
Jaylen Wright was ruled out for Week 3 and can't stay out of a coach's doghouse to save his life. Gordon is the NFL-relative embodiment of *inverse* explosiveness. Probably not what you're looking for in a feature back.
That leaves Jarquez Hunter. Again, the Rams drafted him in the fourth round out of Auburn. How's their track record in the draft? Last I checked, pretty good. What many people miss about the Rams is that, amid their "F them picks" brilliance, they've nailed the second and third days of the draft as well as anyone.
Hunter was fazed out of LA more due to the brilliance of the Rams' Kyren Williams-Blake Corum tandem than his own inefficacy.
I personally loved Hunter as a prospect. He ran for 1,201 yards in his last year of college ball on 6.4 yards per carry. Mind you, that was 2024, in the SEC, with Payton freaking Thorne as his QB.
That season, Hunter forced 59 missed tackles, averaged 4.1 yards after contact, and, per PFF, had forty-two runs of 10+ yards.
Just to give you a little context: reigning No. 3 overall pick Jeremiyah Love forced 56 missed tackles and had 24 runs of 10+ yards on 166 carries. That's about a 14.4% explosive rate. Hunter was at a 22.6% clip in gaining those double-digit rushes.
Don't know about y'all, but that sounds to me like a very appealing production profile. And Hunter has seen up close what a winning organization looks like. Miami made a savvy move to bring him aboard.
But uhh...where is Jarquez? Why has it taken so long to unveil him? It's not like he has a bunch of world beaters in front of him on the depth chart.
Even a limited package for Hunter could've taken the load off Achane before he went down. I get that his injury was more fluky than anything else, but his usage was an accident waiting to happen. It's the principle of the Dolphins' incongruent contention timeline and deployment of Achane that makes everything so irksome.
The Dolphins should be running as many multiple back formations and 12/13 personnel as possible, turning their system into a pseudo-Wildcat situation with fresh bodies in the backfield galore and as little reliance on their sorry receiving corps as possible.
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