De'Von Achane Is Done for the Season. What Now for the Dolphins?

Calling Achane a running back almost undersells his importance to this offense. Miami clearly entered the season planning to run everything through him, and we saw that immediately against Kansas City. He was either the ball carrier or the intended receiver on four of Miami's first five plays before getting hurt.

That makes sense when you look at what else they have. Malik Willis has had some moments through three games, but Miami has scored 36 points all season. They have three offensive touchdowns. Achane was the one player who could take a five-yard play and turn it into 50, and even when he wasn't getting the ball, defenses had to know where he was.

Now you're asking Ollie Gordon II and Jaylen Wright to replace that.

Gordon took over Sunday and finished with 17 carries for 41 yards and a touchdown. Wright was inactive with a stinger, but he should factor into the backfield once he's healthy. I'm sure both are going to be popular waiver-wire names this week, especially because every fantasy league turns into a running back wasteland by October.

I'm staying out.

Full disclosure: I have Achane, so maybe this is partly me being bitter and refusing to accept that my replacement is Ollie Gordon. But I don't really want either guy. Gordon is averaging 2.4 yards per carry this season. Wright has three carries through two games. Maybe one emerges and ends up being useful because somebody has to get the touches, but replacing Achane's volume doesn't mean you're replacing Achane's production.

If Gordon gets 15 carries for 45 yards every week, congratulations on your waiver claim.

For deeper leagues, obviously they should be rostered. If you have the bench space, Wright is worth holding to see how this backfield shakes out. I'm just not spending a huge chunk of FAAB chasing the starting running back on an offense that has scored three touchdowns in three weeks.

This is probably the more interesting part for Survive Sunday.

Picking against Miami was already something to consider before the Achane injury. Now I want to look at their opponent basically every week.

That doesn't mean blindly clicking whoever is playing the Dolphins. We've all been doing survivor long enough to know exactly how that ends. Some 0-5 team randomly wins a game they're not supposed to, half your pool gets wiped out and everyone spends Sunday afternoon wondering why they trusted the Bengals as a 9.5-point favorite.

But Miami's offense now has a real problem. They were already averaging 12 points per game with Achane. Without him, where are the explosive plays coming from?

That's what I care about in survivor. Bad offenses give you more margin for error. If I'm picking a team against Miami, I don't necessarily need my survivor pick to score 35 points. If the Dolphins are consistently hanging around 13-17 points, there are going to be a lot of opponents that become usable.

The first opportunity comes immediately. Miami travels to Minnesota in Week 4, and the Vikings are absolutely going to be part of the survivor conversation. Cincinnati comes to Miami the following week before the Dolphins get their bye.

You don't have to force it every week, but Miami has officially joined the list of teams I'm looking to pick against whenever the matchup makes sense.

Alright, it's September. Nobody in the Dolphins building is intentionally tanking after three games, and NFL players and coaches aren't going to start trying to lose because there's a receiver they like at Ohio State.

But we can.

If Miami keeps losing, the Jeremiah Smith conversation is going to get louder.

Smith is the best receiver I've seen come out of college in the past decade. He's 6-foot-4, 220-plus pounds, has been dominating college football basically since the second he arrived at Ohio State and is eligible for the 2027 NFL Draft. He already had 2,558 receiving yards and 27 touchdowns in his first two college seasons.

The Dolphins also desperately need offensive firepower.

So yes, I'm going to have some fun with this.

If Miami gets to 0-5 or 1-6, why wouldn't Dolphins fans start looking at the draft? This season was always supposed to be more about figuring out what they have under Hafley than making a serious Super Bowl run. Losing Achane makes that evaluation even harder because the offense now has to be rebuilt on the fly.

The obvious complication is quarterback. Miami needs to figure out whether Malik Willis is actually part of the future. If the Dolphins end up picking near the top of the draft and decide they need a quarterback, that obviously takes priority.

But if they don't?

Jeremiah Smith in Miami would be a lot of fun.

He's also from Miami Gardens, because apparently we needed another reason to start doing this three games into the season.

We're nowhere close to draft season yet, and Miami isn't going to intentionally throw away 14 games to get a wide receiver. But if this season keeps going the way it's going, the Dolphins might not need much help getting themselves into that conversation.

For now, the more immediate impact is pretty simple. Achane owners are miserable. I'm one of them. Gordon and Wright will be waiver-wire targets, but I'm personally not rushing to grab either. The Dolphins have to figure out how to completely reshape an offense that was designed around Achane, and survivor players should be paying attention every week.

Miami was already 0-3.

Now its best offensive player is gone.

I'm not saying Tank for Jeremiah just yet.

Ask me again in three weeks.