The Miami Dolphins already boasted speed at receiver with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, two of the fastest players in the NFL. Then the Fins went out and drafted running back Devon Achane, who blazed a 4.32 40-yard dash at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine.
"Man, it's like a race car game," Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard told over the weekend at Hill's youth football camp. "You just see speed going, quick and fast. Especially after adding this guy (Achane) to our running backs. It's good going against the competition and going against these two guys.
"The speed, it's a lot. You can't coach speed. Especially playing cornerback, it helps out a lot. You can't put me in this. I just got good technique. These guys are fast, though."
The speed the Dolphins can deploy stresses defenses, forcing secondaries to respect getting beat deep and opening up underneath routes.
"I think it's something defenses got to be careful of," Waddle said. "When you have a lot of guys that can stretch the field, it opens up a lot of stuff."
Adding Achane to the backfield gives Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel another chess piece to move around, someone defenses have to identify any time he's in the contest. While the 5-foot-8 running back might not be a workhorse, with Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson in Miami to share duties, he could bring a dose of explosion to the backfield.
"Obviously we got one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL and I'm sticking to my stance on that," Hill said. "So having Tua (Tagovailoa) at quarterback and having the offensive guru we have in our head coach is wonderful. Having those weapons at his disposal, he's going to go crazy. He can have me and Waddle on one side, Devon and Raheem on another side. The sky is the limit for this offense."
On paper, at the end of May, the Dolphins look like a contender for the AFC title, having upgraded the defense, hired new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and added more pieces on offense. However, the main question in South Beach is whether Tagovailoa can stay healthy for 18 weeks.
