Dolphins

Dolphins RB De’Von Achane is entering the fourth year of his career and assuming more of a leadership role in their locker room. Miami HC Jeff Hafley said he had a conversation with Achane about needing him to be a leader and is excited about him going into 2026. 

“Our conversation went great. Our first conversation that we had, I thought went great. I just got to know him. I had a good conversation, just talked about a lot of different things. I don’t recall how I told him I needed him to be a leader, whether it was vocal, whether it was one way or the other. I think everybody leads different, and we need our best players to lead whatever way that they can. Whether it’s how he practices, whether it’s how he grabs a guy one on one, whether he is loud out on the field, we need our best players to lead and I’m excited for him to do that,” Hafley said, via the team’s site. 

When asked about the next step in his progression, Achane said that he is stepping up as a leader. 

“Now you just focus on football. Just keep getting better and just make sure that I’ll be a leader for this team out here for my teammates. Just make sure that we get better as a team day in and day out,” Achane said, via the team’s site. 

As for becoming a vocal leader, Achane said he uses his voice when needed and wants to be someone who brings the offense together. 

“I’m getting better at it. It’s not just somebody asking me to speak, I’ll just speak on my own. When I feel like practice wasn’t good enough or at a moment in practice I feel like we need that energy to break it up a little bit, I could be the one bringing the offense together like, Hey, we need to fix this. Fix this up, it’s just not looking right. It’s just stuff like that.”

Dolphins

Dolphins HC Jeff Hafley spoke about how rookie CB Chris Johnson and rookie OL Kaydn Proctor will initially fit on the team.

“Yeah, I think it’s case-by-case,” Hafley said, via Dolphins Wire. “I mean Chris is going to play inside and outside. We got to be careful overloading any young player, but we also have to get a feel for the players and see how much that they can handle. Quickly we’ve seen that Chris is capable of handling multiple positions, so you’ll see him on the inside, you’ll see him on the outside. He’ll be doing both. Proctor, you’ll see on one side right now, Jonah (Savaiinaea), you’ll see on one side right now, and we’ll just keep him on those sides and let them get comfortable. So it’s case by case, and I think that’s our job as coaches is to figure that out. Some guys, we’re still not sure yet. Practice has been limited. Team reps have been limited, and we’ll figure that out in training camp.“

Patriots 

Patriots QB Drake Maye is set to enter his second season playing under OC Josh McDaniels. Maye is confident that an additional year in McDaniels’ system will help him naturally “be more comfortable” and learn the finer details of how they play. 

“I think it’s naturally gonna be more comfortable. You know, being in the huddle, saying the play calls, knowing why we’re running the plays. Trying to take the next level of details and details inside each play. And I think it’s fun getting to have new guys in the offense and me try to teach them what I know about it and what I think will be best for us to best execute. And I think that’s what’s fun – being out here and maybe trying some different things but also trying just to execute and create positive plays. So, it’s nice getting another year in the same offense. It’s been the first time for me in maybe four years. So, it’s great to have that and have an offensive mind of Coach McDaniels and our offensive coaches are great. So, I’m really looking forward to that, and you got to keep building,” Maye said, via the team’s site. 

Maye said that the biggest thing they are working on this offseason is avoiding negative plays. 

“I think as an offense, we’re just trying to keep the ball moving forward. And I think handling negative plays and realizing when we keep the ball ahead of the chains or in positive plays, or just really avoiding negative plays is the biggest thing that we’re working on as an offense to try to maintain that. And I think we put some points on the board, and we’ve shown that we can be hard to stop when we do that. And then just, like I mentioned, the details, little things about execution and inside of each play that go a long way with us staying ahead of the chains.”

As for playing more high-tempo in 2026, Maye views it as an advantage for their offense, but it ultimately relies on their execution. 

“I think it makes it tough on the defense. You know, they got to get into calls, and sometimes the defensive coordinator is trying to get the linebacker to make a call, and the linebacker may have already made a call. And it’s just tough on them. It’s tough on the guys up front, slows the pass rush down. I think it’s an advantage for any offense. But I think it’s tough when you got to balance, you’re running a play fast, but also making it a good play, not just an incompletion or something negative. So, that’s what we’re really trying to work on. And I think you can only use tempo as much as how well you execute and how good you are at it. So, working towards that and feeling that out.”