Devon Achane scores first career NFL touchdown in Dolphins-Broncos game
Devon Achane is out of the gate hot in Week 3 of NFL action for the Dolphins, as he just scored the first touchdown of his professional career to extend Miami’s lead to 14-0 over Denver.
Achane saw just one carry across the team’s first two games, but was a fixture early on in game No. 3. On the second drive of the game, Achane was inserted as the primary RB, taking four carries for 41 total yards, including an eight-yard touchdown to cap it off. As mentioned, that’s the first time he’s found the end zone as a pro.
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That wouldn’t be the last time Achane scored six points. He actually scored a touchdown on the team’s next possession but that got called back due to a holding call. No matter, Miami marched right back towards the goal line after the penalty and used a shovel pass to Achane to score their third touchdown of the day, and Achane’s second.
Mike McDaniel likes having options at RB
The Dolphins sifted through the free agent market looking for a good running back, before eventually drafting Achane in the third round. Last season, Raheem Mostert led the way on the ground with 891 rushing yards, but he turns 30 this year and Miami certainly needed younger depth pieces at the position, so they picked up the speedy former Aggie.
In the preseason, head coach Mike McDaniel raved about the RB room and was happy with their development heading into the real season.
“I’m very happy with our running back group,” head coach Mike McDaniel had said back in August. “There’s been a ton of development since camp started for already talented guys that I very much believe in.”
“So overall, I’m really pumped with the running back group. As far as other team’s transactions, really, I haven’t even paid that much attention other than to what is today? Today is practice. The 16th of August. And I’m very happy with the crew that we’re going to compete with and pumped to compete against this unit too.”
Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson are likely to get most of the work on first and second downs this year. Meanwhile, Achane could come in on third down or in other special packages. The goal is to improve upon last year’s anemic numbers. The Dolphins averaged 96 rushing yards a game in 2022. That ranked as only 27th best in the league.
After one full drive as the go-to back, Devon Achane certainly added some punch to the Dolphins’ running game — as he did throughout Texas A&M’s maligned 2022 season. The team as a whole was quite disappointing but Achane was a lone bright spot on offense, rushing for 1,102 yards and eight scores