The Achane Block Chain

The Achane Block Chain

At 7:42 p.m. EST last night, Jordan Schultz, one of the NFL’s leading news breakers, tweeted that the Miami Dolphins were signing De’Von Achane to a new contract, tying him to the Dolphins for another four seasons to the very reasonable tune of $68 million — $17 million per year, with $32 million guaranteed.

The deal, which will make him the NFL’s third-highest-paid running back, is the biggest in NFL history in terms of APY and guarantees for a back coming off a rookie contract. And whatever your opinion about giving big second contracts to runners — especially undersized ones — it’s impossible to make any sort of case that he’s undeserving of it.

Over the past three seasons, Achane, the 84th overall pick in the 2023 draft, has averaged more than 1,000 rushing yards at 5.6 yards a pop, along with 57 catches and 11 touchdowns per year. Last season, he led the league in explosive plays of 10-plus yards with 40, and throughout his career, he has averaged a 10-plus-yard play on more than 17% of his touches.

He is, without question, one of the most devastating players in football and, at worst, a top-five running back league-wide.

Despite trade overtures from elsewhere and the willingness to deal almost anyone, the team retained his services. But Achane enters 2026 with the Dolphins in a significant period of transition and a lot will be put on his plate. Not since he was tearing up fields around Missouri City for Thurgood Marshall High School has he been under as much pressure to deliver as he will be next season.

Gone are four of the weapons who were significant contributors to his performances: Jaylen Waddle was traded, while Tyreek Hill, Tua Tagovailoa, and Alec Ingold were released. And it’s that last name that might be the biggest miss of all for Miami’s newly minted Pro Bowl runner. Consider this: 50% of Achane’s 2025 explosive plays came because he’d been sprung by an Ingold block, and across his 66 games as a Dolphin, Ingold became arguably the best fullback in the game — certainly as it pertained to clearing holes for Raheem Mostert and then Achane.

The question then becomes: how much does new offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik value a fullback when it comes to helping Achane out, especially given the aforementioned numbers?

The Mike Shanahan coaching tree has always valued fullbacks who can get out in front — especially on outside-zone runs — operating as a sixth or even seventh offensive lineman, depending on the personnel structure. When he was winning Super Bowl XXXII and Super Bowl XXXIII with John Elway and Terrell Davis, the unsung hero of his offense was fullback Howard Griffith, fondly referred to as “The Human Plow.”

Behind the Illinois bruiser, Davis ran for 1,750 yards in 1997 and then eclipsed the 2,000-yard mark a year later as the league MVP. In the playoffs, Griffith led the way as Davis averaged 145.3 rushing yards per game in the ’97 postseason and 156 per game a year later, as the Broncos won those back-to-back Super Bowls.

Later, when Clinton Portis and Reuben Droughns were running wild in the Mile High City, it was Mike Bell leading the way in a similar vein to Griffith. In the early 2010s, Mike Shanahan and his son Kyle Shanahan heavily utilized fullbacks like Darrel Young and Mike Sellers in Washington, which subsequently influenced their longtime assistant coaches, including Sean McVay , Mike McDaniel, Matt LaFleur, and Slowik.

As a college wide receiver at Michigan Tech, Miami’s new offensive coordinator was obsessed with precision: hitting landmarks on every play, winning leverage battles through route running, and understanding the meticulous way in which a receiver uses his body and feet — rather than speed or explosion — to get open. In Shanahan’s scheme, he was able to see how bigger, slower players who drilled down into the intricacies of blocking — as fullbacks, tight ends, and perimeter blockers — could create a run game that would be difficult to stop.

When Slowik took charge of the Texans’ offense, he utilized a former undrafted free-agent H-back from Texas as his de facto lead blocker and split-zone motion man so that tailback Devin Singletary could have a career year.

“I believe in running the ball. I believe strongly in running the ball,” Slowik said at his introductory press conference as the new Dolphins OC “I think most of the successful teams in the NFL these days run the ball really well, at a high clip, and really build it from there as far as winning in the trenches. I like keeping the defense off balance. It’s probably my number one thing in terms of what I look for as a play caller, while making sure I marry it to who we have on the team.”

Of course, no new offensive coordinator is going to come out and say anything different. But when pushed on his usage of a fullback, Slowik had this to say:

“I’ve used one (a fullback) before. I think it’s powerful within the offense.”

During the 2026 pro day circuit, one of the most important stops for the Dolphins was March 10th on the campus of San Diego State. The team sent a contingent down to see CB Chris Johnson, whom they’d already got a deep conviction on, but also had scouts and ST’s coach Chris Tabor pay close attention to a standout special teamer with 959 snaps on that unit, a linebacker called DJ Herman, who’d only started twice but who Miami had discussed converting to fullback. After going undrafted, the Dolphins reached out and brought him into mini-camp as a tryout player and were impressed enough to offer him a contract. At 6’1, and 236 lbs, he’s big enough to operate as a lead blocker, possessing the requisite physicality and toughness to operate out of the classic 12 and 21 personnel groupings favored by Slowik.

There’s absolutely no guarantee he makes the 53-man roster. But with Miami looking to use Will Kacmarek in-line and a few snaps at either FB or as a blocking H-Back for any other tight end on the roster – coupled with Herman’s special teams acumen – it may be that Miami has found their replacement for Alec Ingold.

Of course, it will take a significant leap of faith to imagine him lining up for the first snap of the season on offense. But in seeing the benefits to Achane of having a lead blocker, and with so many question marks surrounding the offense in its totality, you wouldn’t be completely shocked if the rookie carved out a role for himself as Ingold’s replacement.

And it’s not like the Dolphins don’t have history in this field.

The last college linebacker convert and special teams standout they had playing fullback?

Some guy named Alec Ingold.