The Miami Dolphins will begin the 2025 season shorthanded at tailback unless the team adds a few running backs in the next couple of days.
De’Von Achane, the team’s starting tailback, is nursing a calf injury that has forced the team to shut him down the past two weeks, and making matters worse is the right leg injury Jaylen Wright, his backup, suffered in Miami’s joint practice with the Jacksonville Jaguars last week.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said the team is still exploring whether Wright, who averaged 1.5 yards per carry on 13 attempts in the preseason, needs to undergo a surgical procedure. However, McDaniel was certain that the second-year tailback wouldn’t be available for Miami’s Sept. 7 season-opener against the Indianapolis Colts.
When clarifying Wright’s timetable for rehabilitation of what’s assumed to be a knee injury, McDaniel said the injury he suffered wasn’t season ending, and stated his return was “ not too off from the foreseeable future.”
If it’s determined that Wright’s knee needs to be scoped the Dolphins will likely be without him for a month, which might motivate the team to place him on injured reserve with a designation to return.
Wright being shelved means Ollie Gordon II, the Dolphins’ 2025 sixth-round pick, will likely serve as Achane’s primary backup against the Colts, which gives the team two weeks to get the rookie ready.
Gordon, the 2023 Doak Walker Award winner, handled the bulk of Miami’s carries in the preseason, gaining 126 rushing yards and scoring one rushing touchdown on 26 carries. He averaged 4.8 yards per carry and also caught three passes, turning those into 48 yards.
At this point the Dolphins don’t have any other options because fellow tailbacks Mike Boone and Aaron Shampklin were among the players Miami released on Monday, getting ahead of Tuesday’s 4 p.m. deadline to have the training camp roster trimmed down to 53 players.
The Dolphins will likely add a tailback or two to the 53-man roster, or the 16-player practice squad this week by signing a veteran, trading for a player, or claiming a young tailback off the waiver wire because it’s unrealistic to go into a season with one healthy running back on the roster.