De’Von Achane recently signed an extension that made him one of the NFL's highest-paid running backs. He's now arguably the face of the Miami Dolphins, along with new quarterback Malik Willis, as the team tries to start over with new leadership in the coaching and scouting staffs.
In his first public comments since the contract extension, the 24-year-old Achane appeared on his former teammate Terron Armstead's podcast, "The Set." Achane explained why he chose to sign with Miami now, saying that the new brain trust of head coach Jeff Hafley and general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan showed Achane how much they wanted him.
"I feel like they kind of made it clear that … we're not trading him, he's one of the players that we're going to build the offense around," Achane said. "That was something that (they) kind of said off the get-go, so I wasn't worried about that.
"I talked to both of them 1-on-1 when they first got here, and they kind of laid out all this stuff, like, 'we're not trading you.' That was set from the get-go."
Achane earned the extension with a Pro Bowl season in 2025 and arguably the best of his three NFL seasons, totaling 1,838 yards from scrimmage and 12 touchdowns -- quite an achievement for a Dolphins offense that had the seventh-fewest yards gained last season. Over three seasons, Achane has averaged nearly 100 scrimmage yards per game and has 35 touchdowns in 44 career outings as one of the best dual threat backs in the game.
Achane's new deal places him third among all NFL backs at $16 million per season. He admitted he wasn't sure it would happen with the new regime, however, given the unfamiliarity with one another.
"You got a new everything," Achane said. "From when I first got here, (there) wasn't none of these people here. So, it's like, I ain't know what to expect. I just came off a Pro Bowl year, but I didn't do this with these people here."
Now Achane is more familiar with Hafley, Sullivan and all of the new Dolphins faces on a roster full of them, admitting he's still in the name-learning phase with some of them. Achane is also adjusting to a defensive-minded coach in Hafley versus playing for Mike McDaniel, an offensive head coach, his first three seasons.
"It's a transition, for sure," Achane said. "It's different, but at the same time, we're all going to get used to it. We're all grown men. We know how to adapt to different situations.
"Mike used to always be with us; he used to always be with the offense. Haf, he's a defensive coach, so he's that way. Now, during OTAs, he'll be on offense a little bit, but probably during the season, you won't see him with the offense as much as Mike was. It's a little different as far as that."
And with so many star players gone, such as Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, Achane figures to be part of a new leadership group on offense that includes offensive linemen Aaron Brewer and Austin Jackson as well as Willis. Achane said he hasn't had a lot of time to connect with Willis but that he likes what he's seen from Miami's new starting QB.
"Just us talking in the locker room, on the field, he seems like he's a good dude," Achane said. "He's somebody that'll be good to hang around, talk football, stuff like that. You can tell he's coming around. He's learning the plays real fast."
