Dave Hyde: Next business for new Dolphins — how they handle business like Achane’s contract
· Yahoo Sports
We all know what this new Miami Dolphins’ regime couldn’t do this offseason. It couldn’t keep the bloated players’ contracts it inherited, it couldn’t spend on big-name free agents — it couldn’t even shop without clipping coupons for most players.
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But this week introduced something it can do that will set a new era’s policy. De’Vone Achane didn’t show up for the offseason workouts. He wants a new contract. You can understand where Achane is coming from since he’s entering the final year of his rookie contract as one of the NFL’s best running backs.
The Dolphins don’t have many players you rank among the best at their position. In fact, the two other players you can say that about, center Aaron Brewer and middle linebacker Jordyn Brooks, are entering the final years of contracts, too.
No doubt, this isn’t some random list, these three players remaining on the roster when so many others were dumped overboard. General Manager Jon-Eric Sullivan did a good job of self-scouting. He separated who mattered from who didn’t.
That’s a fundamental concept you haven’t said about a Dolphins’ front office for years. It seems so — and here’s the word about these first few months — refreshing. The Dolphins look and sound like a real NFL team in their opening swings — but that’s all they are. Opening.
There’s a long way to go, of course, as Achane not showing up this week suggests. Let’s no overdo his absence. It’s April. It’s workouts with no pads. Sullivan has labeled Achane’s presence a “priority.” The offseason is the time players have to be selfish about things like contracts and playing time, too.
Still, Achane’s absence suggests something is amiss and new coach Jeff Hafley would no doubt like Achane for his opening meetings. There’s new policy to strike here, too, in these opening contracts. What lines are drawn? How will negotiations proceed? What if Achane’s absence carries into training camp — or he demands a trade?
All this is important because the Dolphins have been as bad off the field for years as they’ve been on the field. It wasn’t just recently overpaying the wrong players to the point they have a NFL-record $182 million in dead-cap money for next season. That’s one sin.
It also was the opposite problem of losing good players like defensive tackle Christian Wilkins and guard Rob Hunt. Remember? They weren’t signed the year before they went to free agency. That’s the time to do it for both sides. That’s why these decisions on Achane, Brooks and Brewer matter this offseason.
Every player is a different conversation. Let’s talk Achane, considering he’s absent in hopes of getting a new deal and, at 24, fits any timeline of this rebuild. He’s a playmaker, too, the only proven one on the roster to help newly signed quarterback Malik Willis.
Sure, he’s a running back, and everyone knows that position’s value has diminished in recent years. But Achane is in the upper class of running backs. He’s a three-down threat as a runner and pass receiver.
Those are the brand of running backs who get paid. Even the Green Bay Packers, Sullivan’s alma mater, signed Josh Jacobs to a four-year, $48 million deal ($12.5 million guaranteed) two years ago. Buffalo’s James Cook signed a four-year, $46 million ($30 million guaranteed), last off-season. You might want to work off those frameworks, if you’re the Dolphins.
Achane’s agent might want to work off the two highest-paid running backs in Christian McCaffey (four years, $38 million) and Saquan Barkley (four years, $41 million). No, Achane doesn’t have the career portfolio of either back. But last year’s numbers can put him in their class.
Achane averaged a league-leading 5.7 yards per carry last season and ended all questions about his small-body durability. He’s played 33 of 35 games the last two years. He led the league last season with 4.11 yards after contact, according to Pro Football Focus. None of the top 50 rushers last season came closer than the 3.95 such yards by Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson.
Consider, too, the new, favorite analytic stat of big plays that’s overtaking turnovers in some circles as the best predictor of wins and losses. On a ragged offense, Achane had a league-leading 24 runs over 15 yards and finished third behind Cook and Seattle’s Kenneth Walker III with 40 runs over 10 yards.
Achane’s 488 yards receiving don’t match McCaffrey’s 1,029. That matters. How much of that is because McCaffrey’s more polished? How much is it because he was targeted 50 more times than Achane was?
Here’s the point: What do you pay Achane? Or do you pay him right now? Do you play hardball by letting him play this final year on his rookie deal if his demands are deemed too high with the threat of franchise tagging him next year?
Sullivan has run a refreshing offseason, considering his wretched inheritance. Some issues like dumping bad contracts were harder to stomach than actually to do. Now comes the art of negotiating with players who deserve new contracts. This will set policy in some form. And Achane is atop that list.