Miami Dolphins rookie running back De’Von Achane will miss multiple weeks with a knee injury, according to reports from ESPN and NFL Network.
The Dolphins came away from Sunday’s 31-16 win over the New York Giants monitoring Achane’s knee, coach Mike McDaniel said Monday before the Tuesday morning news that the rookie phenom will indeed miss significant time.
The reports indicate, however, that Achane’s knee injury is not feared to be season-ending.
An injured reserve stint could be in place for Achane. That would put him out the next four weeks. Miami has games against the Carolina Panthers, Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs upcoming before its bye week. The Dolphins could give Achane five weeks to recover with a minimum IR stint.
Achane seemed to make it through Sunday’s game fine, but he appeared gimpy on his last carry early in the fourth quarter. He was also at his locker after the game to talk to reporters.
“It was just something that we’re treating that we’ll get more information on,” McDaniel said Monday. “He was in and out of the game, standard rotation like normal. Then, he thought that he might have something, but he’s such a tough kid. It was kind of tough to read.”
McDaniel also declined to get into potential severity of the injury or whether he would need an MRI on the knee.
Achane leads the NFL with his 12.1 yards per carry average. He is second in the league with his 460 yards, 50 behind San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey with 61 fewer rushing attempts. He has scored seven total touchdowns in his rookie season after being drafted in the third round out of Texas A&M.
The Dolphins will once again lean on veteran Raheem Mostert in the running game. They also have Salvon Ahmed to spell him, plus undrafted rookie Chris Brooks.
Fellow running back Jeff Wilson Jr. could be in line to return to practice this week, too. He has been on injured reserve since injuring his midsection and finger late in the preseason.