Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill has made waves this offseason already by proclaiming that he was “out” of Miami, a statement he later walked back, and more recently saying that his team needed to add some “dogs” to the roster in order to compete in 2025.
His teammate disagrees with that perceived need, however, as Dolphins running back De'Von Achane said Friday on the Up and Adams Show that he believes Miami still has the personnel in-house to play at the level of other elite teams, if they can put it together at the right time.
"We got dogs, we just need more people to bring it out, you know what I'm saying?" Achane told Kay Adams. "I wouldn't say we need more, as in like got to get other people, but last year's team isn't going to be the same as this year's team, so I feel like we know how the season went last year, so this year we should make sure that we don't run into those errors.
"We know what we're capable of. If we're all on [the same page], I feel like we're a hard team to beat."
The Dolphins just missed the postseason in 2024 after finishing 8-9, getting eliminated in Week 18 to ensure Miami's 24-year-long drought without a playoff victory would continue.
Since head coach Mike McDaniel took over in 2022, the Dolphins have made a name for themselves with splashy regular-season play from star names, but have been unable to win games when they count most, resulting in wild-card losses his first two years and this season's postseason absence.
The offense features the likes of Hill, Achane, Tua Tagovailoa and Jaylen Waddle as the leading playmakers, though this season's overall output was not quite as eye-popping. This can partially be attributed to Tagovailoa's extended injury absence early on, which aided in a 2-6 start the team was fighting to escape the rest of the year. But it also took most of the season for the offense to truly gel, according to Achane, who said there's additional frustration in knowing time ran out right when things were finally coming together.
"We knew as a team that we dug ourselves in this hole," Achane said. "It sucks that the season ended when we started getting it together. It'd helped if we figured it out earlier. Season would have been better."
As to Achane's claim that there is still potential for this group in its current form to exceed last year's results, the stats certainly indicate there's available ground to make up. Hill especially had an unexpected down year, going from almost hitting 2,000 yards receiving in 2023 to not even getting 1,000 this last year. Waddle also saw a downtick in receiving production with his first season under 1,000 yards, and these struggles from what had been a dynamic receiving duo led to the Dolphins finishing 15th in passing yards after leading the league in 2023.
Achane was able to partially help in the pass game in his sophomore year, contributing 592 receiving yards and finishing 12th in scrimmage yards. He was also the only player this year with six rushing touchdowns and six receiving touchdowns.
But he saw possible areas of improvement in his own play, as well, describing how he felt he left some yards on the field and thinks there's other milestones he could hit in his upcoming third season to help the team get back on track.
"I feel like breaking down film after the season … I feel like I left some big runs on the table that I wish that I could have back," Achane said. "I feel like my third year going into the season I haven't hit the 1,000-yard mark rushing yet, so that's something that's in mind. I felt like that's something that I could have did last year."
