With Achane specifically, that reasonable assumption would be incorrect. During his junior season, Achane gained 30.3% of his total rushing yards in the open field (defined as anything beyond ten yards on a given run), which ranks 13th out of 24 runners in this year's class:

That’s not necessarily good or bad, but simply illustrative of the fact that Achane’s efficiency is not disproportionately boosted by long runs relative to that of many other backs (and his percentage of yards gained in the open field was even lower in 2020 and 2021).

Further, only 43 of Achane’s 196 carries from last season were classified by Sports Info Solutions as “outside” runs. He was effective on those plays (averaging 7.37 yards per carry), but as they represented less than a quarter of his total attempts (21.9%), it can hardly be said that Achane’s productivity was dependent on those kinds of plays (at 28.8%, they accounted for just over a quarter of his total rushing yards).

I think the film also bears out that Achane was not just a get-to-the-edge-at-all-costs runner during his college career:

The above play is a split zone run against Alabama from Achane’s sophomore year. He does a great job here of staying tight to his blocks and working across the line of scrimmage, looking for an opportunity to squeeze through the line and get upfield. Nothing comes open until the playside edge (which itself is open due in part to Achane’s pressing toward the line of scrimmage, which sucked the linebackers forward and forced them to engage with the offensive line), where Achane is finally able to align himself north/south and is immediately presented with an opportunity to bounce to the outside. At this point, Achane reads that the defender engaged with #85 has outside leverage, so he dives inside that block and fights for extra yardage through traffic.

With the advantage his speed provides him over pretty much any other player on the field, perhaps Achane should have taken this chance to get into open field, but this play exemplifies that his decision-making process is not centered around turning things outside as soon as possible. The two alternatives -- that he is reading the positioning, leverage, and momentum of defenders relative to blockers, or that he simply has a propensity to get up the field -- both speak to his not being a serial bounce artist.

Here’s another example, this one from Achane’s 38-carry, 215-yard performance against LSU as a junior:

On this run, playside (from the top of the screen) penetration forces Achane to the backside, where the presence of #30 plugs an otherwise available lane between the left tackle and tight end. Achane smartly turns outside, where another bounce opportunity presents itself. When #23 commits hard in that direction, Achane makes a quick cut to slip inside the tight end and dash toward the first-down marker.

This play again shows Achane’s desire to keep a north/south alignment, as well as his ability to quickly interpret and react to dynamic stimuli rather than marry himself to the first patch of open grass that he sees.

Here’s another, similar example from the same game:

On this play, playside penetration again forces Achane to the backside, and he is once again presented with a bounce opportunity. Again, he reads the leverage of #23, who is shaded to the outside of the tight end, and slips inside his blocker as a result.

You could make a compelling argument that, given his skillset, Achane should have looked to bounce any (or even all) of these several plays to the outside, and I wouldn’t necessarily disagree. But the evidence from both film and data is clear that Achane is a legitimate running back making legitimate reads and with a legitimate commitment to getting upfield, and is not looking to turn every run into a jet sweep.

Another reasonable assumption you might make about a 185-pound running back with Olympic speed is that he is antsy, unable to stay in low gear while waiting for traffic to clear and instead going full throttle at all times. While he’s appropriately decisive when creases do present themselves, I believe the film shows that Achane is not an impatient runner:

On this short-yardage iso run to finish out the game against LSU, Achane reads that the off-tackle gap his fullback is leading toward is not available given the leverage of the interior defensive lineman fighting that direction (the one engaged with #77). Because of this, Achane looks to dive one gap over, but #77 is in the way at the time of that read. Achane pauses to stutter-step in the backfield, allowing #77 to clear to the outside, and then resumes his stride into a now-clean crease for a first down.

Here’s another example of Achane’s patience in the backfield, this one from last season’s game against Arkansas:

Here, Achane immediately reads a vertical crease but sees a linebacker in position to make a tackle at the edge of the second level. He again pauses in the backfield (which also allows the second puller, #42, to clear out of the way) until that defender buries himself around that second-level block, and then explodes upfield as soon as the lane is clear.

This run contains another display of patience on a counter play against Arkansas:

On this run, it looks like Achane wants to get vertical in the designed gap (off tackle to the right, where his pullers are leading), but #18 is still clearing through to that side and the Razorbacks’ #99 is working to plug the hole. Achane pauses to reassess, realizes he’ll need to bail to the backside with the designed gap now closed off, and then pauses again to allow the edge defender (#56) to pursue playside and take himself out of the play. Once he clears, Achane explodes to the outside, turns the corner, and accelerates up the sideline.

Overall, Achane consistently exhibits the ability to stay under control and remain patient behind the line of scrimmage, allowing things to develop and finding alternate solutions when designed creases don’t become available. Among ten 2023 runners that I’ve watched film on so far (as well as Blake Corum, who recently announced that he was heading back to school for his senior season), Achane has the highest rate of positively graded plays in the patience category.

Our final question is not one related to Achane’s decision-making, but instead to his physical ability when interacting with defenders on the interior. You won’t be surprised to hear that this particular area is not one of Achane’s strong suits, but I also don’t believe that it’s any kind of debilitating weakness.

As part of my film study, I chart collisions between ball-carrier and defender, noting whether the interaction occurred between a running back and a defensive lineman, linebacker, or defensive back, as well as the direction and solidity of the contact made between the two of them (classified as direct, head-on contact, as body-to-body contact from any direction other than head-on, or as a reach, which I define as contact outside the body using no less than one forearm or two hands). From there, I’m able to keep track of how often a player breaks free from, powers for extra yardage through, or is taken down by various levels of contact from different types of defenders.

By that methodology and compared to the other ten backs for whom I’ve charted a significant amount of runs (at least 100 for each of them), Achane’s overall rate of powering through contact ranks sixth (ahead of Eric Gray, Sean Tucker, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Israel Abanikanda). With regard to defensive linemen specifically, however, Achane actually ranks third-highest (behind DeWayne McBride and Zach Charbonnet), and he ranks fifth against linebackers (behind Charbonnet, Zach Evans, Abanikanda, and McBride).

UAB's DeWayne McBride regularly powers through tackle attempts from defensive lineman.

Much of that success through contact is aided by Achane’s incredible quickness. Of the 17 interactions that I’ve marked as reach attempts by defensive linemen, Achane completely broke through 16 of them and earned extra yards on the lone other. He’s not as successful against head-on or body-to-body contact from the side, but of his collisions with defensive linemen, 36.2% fell into the reach category. The average in that area among the other backs I’ve watched is 21.8%, with no other player with a “reach rate” from defensive linemen of even 30%.

That feature of Achane’s interactions with defenders is not limited to his collisions with defensive linemen, as the solidity of his contact with would-be tacklers in general is the lowest of any back I’ve charted so far. He’s not especially powerful, but his ability to run through contact is of lesser consequence than for most other runners because his other athletic gifts enable him to limit the frequency with which he takes direct contact.

Notably, Achane is able to limit that contact without needing to dance around or juke every defender in sight. While he is a very elusive player (his success rate on attempted evasive maneuvers is just 0.3% below Gibbs at the #1 spot among runners I’ve watched) with a solid repertoire of moves (the dead leg and the jump cut seem to be his go-tos), the frequency with which he attempts these moves is much lower than for other evasive players in this class. Instead, his vision, decision-making, and speed allow him to minimize the hits he takes without needing to make frequent use of evasive maneuvers.

All in all, while the 185-pound Achane is not going to make a living by powering through linebackers on short-yardage runs between the tackles, his play strength (especially in the context of his full skillset) is not a fatal flaw, nor is it uniquely poor relative to other backs in this class.

Moreover, it’s clear to me that Achane is one of the best pure runners among 2023 backs, not just in terms of his physical ability, but also of his careful and intelligent approach to making decisions at the line of scrimmage. He will always be a small runner, and that size comes with its limitations, but I’m confident in Achane’s ability to perform the tasks required of an NFL running back more than I am with nearly any other player in this class.