MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Dolphins running back De'Von Achane will likely miss this week of practice as he works his way back from a calf injury, coach Mike McDaniel said Monday.
Achane missed the second day of last week's joint practice with the Detroit Lions and did not play in the teams' preseason game. McDaniel confirmed after Saturday's game that Achane was dealing with a soft tissue, lower-body injury and clarified Monday that it was a calf.
"He's an explosive athlete," McDaniel said. "Calves are the ones that you have to be super proactive, especially with explosive players -- we don't want to have a long, strenuous, nagging issue. So, we probably won't see De'Von this week, after further assessment through [this past] weekend, but that's more preventative in nature just because all trainers across the league have horror stories with calves if you're too aggressive coming back."
McDaniel has erred on the side of caution this summer with players sporting minor injuries. The Dolphins will host the Jacksonville Jaguars for one joint practice this week ahead of their preseason finale Saturday. Defensive tackle Zach Sieler also missed Miami's second joint practice with the Lions but is expected to return to practice this week.
This week might also mark the Miami debut of tight end Darren Waller, who was placed on the physically unable to perform list before the start of training camp. Waller came out of a yearlong retirement when the New York Giants traded him to Miami in July, and the team has allowed him to work his way back into football shape on the side.
"I'm expecting to see him sooner than later," McDaniel said. "I kind of had in the back of my mind that it would be this week, but I'm not going to just put him out there this week just because I said it before. So, I'm hopeful, but it's very soon. We're just making sure that all of our ducks are in a row before we take that listing off him."
The Dolphins saw two of their outside linebackers suffer injuries over the past two weeks: Jaelan Phillips missed both joint practices last week, and Chop Robinson was carted off the field Wednesday, although he returned to practice the following day.
Miami hosted four-time Pro Bowl outside linebacker Matthew Judon on Monday, but McDaniel said the visit was not related to any potential long-term injuries to any of the team's linebackers.