Dolphins RB Given Short End of the Stick in ESPN Ranking
Numbers don’t lie, and the numbers make a strong case that Miami Dolphins running back De’Von Achane played like a top-five back in the league in 2025. In a spectacular breakout season for the 24-year-old, he ranked tops among all qualified players in the league in rushing yards per attempt (an eye-popping 5.7 per carry) and also tallied 1,350 yards rushing (good for fifth-most in football).
But despite statistical evidence to the contrary, Achane’s peers don’t view the fourth-year pro as a top-five talent at his position. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler published a piece in which a contingency of unnamed coaches, executives, and scouts around the NFL ranked the top running backs heading into the 2026 season, and Achane is all the way down at No. 8 on that list.
The backs ahead of Achane are as follows: Bijan Robinson (Atlanta Falcons), Jahmyr Gibbs (Detroit Lions), Saquon Barkley (Philadelphia Eagles), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco 49ers), Jonathan Taylor (Indianapolis Colts), Derrick Henry (Baltimore Ravens), and James Cook III (Buffalo Bills).
Achane put up more prolific numbers than a lot of those guys, all the while being faster than everyone ahead of him on that list. He’s one of the speediest players in the league, and that fact has him well set up to keep giving the Dolphins elite production for the foreseeable future.
The only real argument for not having Achane as a top-five running back at the moment is that he hasn’t proven a whole lot at the highest level, at least compared to the guys slotted ahead of him. The 2025 season marked the first of his career in which he ran for 1,000-plus yards, and it’s not like his excellent play last season was conducive to a lot of wins for Miami, either. The Dolphins metaphorically threw up all over themselves for much of the season and ended the campaign with merely seven wins, marking their worst year in a long time.
