WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. — The Los Angeles Rams watched the Seattle Seahawks hoist the Lombardi Trophy after a crushing 23-17 defeat in the 2025 NFC Championship game. General Manager Les Snead refuses to let history repeat itself. After aggressively trading a first-round pick for All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie to fix a bleeding secondary, the Rams have one major objective left. They need a home-run threat in the backfield. Miami Dolphins running back De’Von Achane is the answer.
Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua torched defenses all last season, while Davante Adams led the league in receiving touchdowns. Stafford orchestrated an elite passing attack, but the ground game lacked raw, terrifying speed. Achane fixes that immediately. He led the entire NFL with 5.7 yards per carry in 2025, racking up 1,350 rushing yards. The stadium shook every time he touched the ball in Miami. He turns standard zone-blocking schemes into track meets.
I stood on the sidelines during that freezing NFC Championship game in Seattle. You could almost feel the tension in the air when the crowd held its breath on third-and-short. The Rams had to pass because they lacked a back who could hit the edge and vanish. Achane is that back. The Dolphins currently claim he is not available, but rebuilding teams always listen to massive offers. Because Los Angeles already dealt their 29th overall pick to Kansas City for McDuffie, Snead must push his chips to the center of the table and offer the 13th overall pick, or a heavy package of future draft capital, to force Miami’s hand.
Achane’s personal journey in Miami is a tough watch right now. The Dolphins tore the roster down to the studs. They traded Jaylen Waddle to the Broncos. They moved on from Tyreek Hill. Achane is fighting alone on an offense missing its critical components. Bringing the 24-year-old to Los Angeles rescues him from a grinding rebuild and drops him right into the middle of a Super Bowl push.
“We know exactly how close we were. Nobody in this building is satisfied with just getting to the conference championship. We are hunting for a ring, and we will do whatever it takes to find the guys who can push us over the line.”
— Sean McVay, Head Coach
Acquiring Achane forces NFC West defensive coordinators into an impossible bind. If you double Nacua or shade coverage toward Adams, Achane gets isolated on a linebacker. That is a guaranteed mismatch. The Rams already fixed their biggest defensive liability by securing McDuffie and Jaylen Watson. Adding the league’s most explosive running back transforms Los Angeles into the undeniable Super Bowl favorite for the 2026 season. If Snead pulls this off, the rest of the league is playing for second place.
