De’Von Achane may have finally found a race he can’t win amid his surge up the Dolphins’ franchise record books
Has De’Von Achane finally found a race he can’t win?
Miami Dolphins running back De’Von Achane is officially off and running. Miami’s third-year running back became the 11th player in franchise history to rush for 1,000 yards or more in a single season. His former teammate, Raheem Mostert, achieved the feat during Achane’s rookie season in 2023 to make it 10. But Achane managed to cross the barrier by the end of November, which begs the question of just how high on this list he can climb before the end of Week 18?
Achane is officially in pursuit of Ricky Williams (kind of).
De’Von Achane has a clear path to one of the best single-season rushing outputs in Dolphins history
With 1,034 rushing yards to date, Achane currently sits 12th all-time in franchise history for single-season rushing. With another 100 yard day at the office this Sunday against the Jets (he’s had three straight), Achane would rank sixth on the same list. He’s going to pass a lot of names in a very short amount of time. That includes names like Reggie Bush, Lamar Smith, and one of Miami’s Mt. Rushmore players, Larry Csonka. Csonka played in a different era — where seasons were 14 games long. But he never posted more than 1,117 yards in a single season.
It’s very possible, or likely, that Achane ends this weekend fifth on the all-time list. He’s 105 yards behind Lamar Smith’s career best 1,139 yards with Miami — although Smith reached that feat on 309 carries (3.7 yards per carry). Achane? He’s at 186 carries.
This season has a chance to get into Dolphins royalty for Achane. We could be as little as two weeks away from Achane sitting in third-place Miami’s all-time list, trailing only Ricky Williams. Williams, of course, was the workhorse of all workhorses upon his arrival to Miami in 2002. He carried the ball 383 times that first season, posting 1,853 rushing yards to crush the prior sitting franchise record of 1,258 by Delvin Williams in 1978.
Miami Dolphins all-time single-season rushing leaders
- Ricky Williams (2002): 1,853 rushing yards
- Ricky Williams (2003): 1,372 rushing yards
- Jay Ajayi (2016): 1,272 rushing yards
- Delvin Williams (1978): 1,258 rushing yards
- Lamar Smith (2000): 1,139 rushing yards
Achane is currently averaging 86.2 rushing yards per game this season. At that current pace, he’d post an additional 431 rushing yards this season to stack on top of his 1,034 already collected. 1,465 rushing yards allows him to partially chase down Ricky Williams, surpassing his 2003 encore effort in Miami as the workhorse player.
What if Achane wanted to pass Williams’ all-time mark of 1,853 yards? We are 820 yards off the mark now, which would require an average of 164 rushing yards per game over the final five games for franchise history. Given that mark is twice his season average to date, we’re probably looking at a long shot here.
Achane is, however, averaging 142.7 rushing yards per game over his last three games played against the Saints, Commanders, and Bills. If he could carry that pace over the next five games, he’d finish the 2025 season with 1,747 rushing yards. I wouldn’t count on him chasing down Ricky Williams’ 2002 mark, but Achane appears primed to chase down every other season in franchise history — and do so in short order. After that, the biggest question will be whether or not Miami’s star will be chasing down a new contract before the start of the 2026 season.
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