The 2026 Miami Dolphins offense, and the whole team in general, will likely only go as far as their running game can carry them. De'Von Achane is the ultimate catalyst of the attack as one of the most explosive ball-carriers in the NFL. Dual-threat quarterback Malik Willis should help the cause as well, but the Dolphins need Achane's potential backup, Jaylen Wright, to take some of the hits off him.
And it can't be that Wright is just going out there to plow ahead without a second thought, gaining three yards with a healthy cloud of dust. Wright has all the talent in the world to be a more-than-competent RB2 at the professional level.
Some are counting Wright out after an underwhelming start to his career in Miami. However, this new coaching staff under Jeff Hafley and offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik could be just the change in leadership necessary to help Wright realize his potential.
Jaylen Wright stands alone as De'Von Achane's most dynamic Miami Dolphins backup
Look, it's no secret that Jaylen Wright has rather pedestrian numbers through two NFL seasons. He's had 138 carries for 537 yards (3.9 average) and two TDs, plus eight receptions for 52 yards.
Not exactly lighting it up. This comes after Wright scampered for 1,688 yards and 14 TDs on 6.7 yards per tote for the Tennessee Volunteers from 2022-23.
Doing that against SEC competition is no fluke. Wright has genuine home run ability that he hasn't fully tapped into as a pro.
Hafley proceeded to rave about Wright's skill set during Thursday's press conference while also acknowledging the RB2 competition is still open, via the Palm Beach Post's Joe Schad:
"Fast. Explosive. When he hits it and gets vertical he can really go. I think he's a good scheme fit. I love the way he practices. I love the way he finishes...He's compact, he's strong, he's a hard guy to tackle, and I'm excited to see him in live settings. That’ll be fun."
I'll proceed to keep playing Wright's lawyer for a time. In case some Dolphins fans forgot, since he's persona non grata No. 1 in Miami these days, Hafley's predecessor, Mike McDaniel, is a full-blown schematic savant. An absolute genius of a play-caller who got Tua Tagovailoa, of all quarterbacks, playing at an MVP-caliber level.
What's often overlooked in the borderline miraculous maximization of Tua's abilities is that McDaniel actually built his sparkling reputation as a running-game guru.
Credit to Achane where it's due, but McDaniel took a pedestrian-at-best offensive line assembled by Chris Grier and helped Achane average 5.6 yards per carry through three seasons.
What I'm trying to get at here: Achane is a freak of freaks who caught on to McDaniel's complex scheme and was off to the races. Not so much the case with Wright, who hailed from a notoriously gimmicky, simplified college offense and still hasn't gotten up to speed in the NFL in that regard.
Ex-Volunteers wide receiver and Carolina Panthers rookie Chris Brazzell II acknowledged the elementary nature of Tennessee's system, which only adopted more pro-style concepts in 2025, via A to Z Sports' Zach Ragan:
"Everybody knows Tennessee as the run-n-gun...Which, they’re right — I’m not gonna sit here and lie. So in 2024, that was a lot of run-n-gun. But this year, if you really watch my film, I’m running damn near every route in the playbook. Every route I’ve ran here, I ran at Tennessee. There’s not a route I’ve ran here that I have not [already] ran. So Tennessee is definitely evolving the playbook. They’re getting more pro-style."
You can see how the timeline of the Vols' evolution doesn't align with when Wright was singing "Rocky Top." Maybe he still lets that rip in the locker room sometimes. But I digress.
Point being, Slowik has ties to McDaniel and the broader Kyle Shanahan coaching tree. He's bringing a similar system to Miami, but one that probably won't be quite as complex as what McDaniel was running.
So Wright has the benefit of knowing the foundation of what Slowik wants to run (outside zone) and a new group of coaches to learn from.
Because let's face it, the guys competing with Wright for the RB2 spot don't inspire much confidence. Ollie Gordon II (2.8 yards per carry in 2025) is a pure short-yardage specialist who isn't explosive whatsoever by NFL standards. Then, it's a smattering of obscure tailbacks like second-year undrafted free agent Donovan Edwards.
Wright has it all in front of him. If he can get Slowik's playbook down, we could very well see shades of that dynamic back from Tennessee resurface this year.
Add us as a preferred source on Google