Dolphins teammate on AWOL Timmons: ‘I hope he’s OK’

Dolphins players had as many questions about Lawrence Timmons’ bizarre disappearing act as their fan base did Sunday.

Timmons, the Dolphins’ $6 million outside linebacker, bolted from the team hotel Saturday with little explanation to the men he was expected to lead Sunday.

Timmons was inactive and not at the stadium for the Dolphins’ 19-17 victory against the Chargers. Details about what exactly happened are few, but Timmons apparently left after growing angry about something not related to the team.

“I really don't know much about the situation,” said offensive lineman Jermon Bushrod.. “I don't know what happened or why. It got to the point where I just hope he's OK. Of course we want the competitor out there. He left it out there all week in practice. He had a good week of practice. When this happened, I just hope he's OK. You want him to play. He's a leader. He's a hell of player.”

With Timmons out, the Dolphins had a real issue at linebacker.

They already knew Rey Maualuga wouldn’t play Sunday with a hamstring injury and Koa Misi and Raekwon McMillan are both out for the season.

That left the Dolphins with just four available linebackers: Kiko Alonso, Mike Hull, Chase Allen and Justin March-Lillard.

Alonso, Hull and Allen started Sunday, and other than a couple of coverage breakdowns, held up reasonably well. The Chargers had just 44 yards rushing on 3.1 per carry — both huge improvements over how the Dolphins fared against the run in 2016.

Hull led all Dolphins with 10 tackles, including one for loss. He also had a hit on quarterback Philip Rivers. Allen added three solo tackles in his NFL debut.

This story was originally published September 17, 2017 at 8:50 PM with the headline "Dolphins teammate on AWOL Timmons: ‘I hope he’s OK’."