Who's the Fastest Dolphins Player? Who Cares, They're All Fast

Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and rookie De''Von Achane were together at a football camp this past weekend, where the focus was on speed, speed and more speed.

What's better than having a ridiculous amount of speed?

For the Miami Dolphins, the answer is very obviously having an even greater amount of ridiculous speed.

That's what the selection of running back De'Von Achane in the third round of the 2023 NFL draft was all about, and Tyreek Hill made that clear when he was joined by Achane, fellow wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and cornerback Xavien Howard at his football and speed camp in Texas this past weekend.

“We have a bunch of it,” Hill told NFL writer Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 in Houston. “The crazy part about it, our coach told us right before the draft, ‘Not every guy has to run a 4.2,’ and then they go out and draft a guy that runs a 4.2.' So, I’m like, ‘Coach, what are we building here?' ”

What the Dolphins are looking to build is an offense so fast that opposing defenses just can't figure out how to slow it down because there's just too much speed everywhere.

The Dolphins showed glimpses of what that might look like last season during their 8-3 start, particularly a five-game stretch where they averaged 435 yards per game — Kansas City led the NFL in total offense in 2022 with a 416-yard average.

“I think it’s something defenses got to be careful of,” Waddle told Wilson. “When you have a lot of guys that can stretch the field, it opens up a lot of stuff.”

Dolphins wide receivers coach Wes Welker, who was really quick as a slot receiver but not necessarily a burner like Hill or Waddle, explained best late last season just the kind of problems defenses were facing against Miami last season.

"You see how defenses have to play us," Welker explained. "We’re getting two-man a lot on first and second down. Nobody does that. You don’t see that around the league. I think just the way defenses have to prepare for us and if you want to play single safety, go ahead. Those two guys are very, very hard matchups for anybody – the best corners in the league and all of them. We rely on those guys heavily whenever they want to take away any of our run game or play post-safety. They’ve got to make sure they’re bringing their A-game and most teams are going to have to play two-high and make sure they keep things in front of them, which opens up our whole offense.”

Now add Achane to the equation, and you have just one more piece with which defenses have to concern themselves.

“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 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 (Mostert) on another side. The sky is the limit for this offense.”

The challenge for the Dolphins offense will be combating the adjustments that defenses invariably will make, particularly after seeing the success the L.A. Chargers had against the Miami passing game despite missing several starters on defense.

Waddle acknowledged last week after the Dolphins OTA open to the media that the offense lost its groove, for lack of a better term once December hit.

The one thing that won't be missing from the potential solution, though, is speed and the ability to stretch defenses.

WHO'S THE FASTEST DOLPHINS PLAYER?

Of course, being that this was a speed camp and there were a lot of speedy players on hand, the idea of a race was brought up in Texas this past weekend.

Hill, who already has been challenged to a race by Seattle Seahawks wide receiver D.K. Metcalf, joked that he wanted to race Waddle right then and there but couldn't because Waddle didn't bring his cleats and would consider it a forfeit.

“I decided to bring Jaylen Waddle back home in front of his family, his friends,” Hill said. "He’s the hometown hero, so why not a better place than bringing Jaylen Waddle home to beat him in front of all of his friends and family?”

Howard was brought into the debate when he was put on the spot and asked who was the fastest among Hill, Waddle and Achane.

After first pointing out he'd be behind the other three, adding that he's a technician at cornerback, he went with Waddle. He explained, jokingly, that he had to go with the fellow Houston guy.

But Howard was serious when he talked about what that kind of speed not only can do for the offense but also the defense in terms of preparation.

‘Man, it’s like a race car game,” Howard said. “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.”

Yep, the Dolphins are fast. And they're only getting faster.

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Alain Poupart has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989. You can follow him on Twitter at @PoupartNFL. Feel free to submit questions every week for the All Dolphins mailbag via Twitter or via email at fnalldolphins@yahoo.com.