A closer look at Kalen Ballage and his 3-week audition to be Dolphins’ featured back
With the Dolphins’ playoff hopes basically dead, get ready for calls from the outside to play the young guys.
It’s an annual tradition for teams like Miami that are usually out of the playoff mix by this time of year.
Let’s see what we’ve got, the thinking goes. What’s there to lose?
Well, for some in the organization, their jobs. Some coaches’ fate might depend on how the Dolphins finish the season. So they want no part of that conversation.
What benefit is there in getting an early start on 2019 when there’s no assurance you will be back in 2019?
The win’s the thing for these Dolphins.
With that being said, how about the best of both worlds: a guy who checks both boxes — unproven yet valuable?
They might have one in rookie Kalen Ballage, who had a bust-out game in Minneapolis Sunday after Frank Gore got hurt.
When the news broke Monday that Gore is done for the year with a sprained foot, it basically guaranteed Ballage would get a three-week audition to be Miami’s featured back in 2019.
Ballage rushed for 123 yards on just 10 carries in the Dolphins’ loss to the Vikings, highlighted by a 75-yard touchdown jaunt on the first carry of the season.
It revealed speed that matches Ballage’s size; at 6-2, 237 pounds, he’s easily the Dolphins’ most physical running back. And it justified Adam Gase’s belief in Ballage, who seems to have already leap-frogged Kenyan Drake on the depth chart.
“We watch it every day in practice,” Gase said Monday. “That long run he had, that’s how he runs every day. That’s how he finishes every day. There’s a reason why he’s able to do that and was confident to just gas it and run by everybody because every day in practice, we watch the same thing. When he gets a carry with the offense, he finishes in the end zone. It’s a good trait to have.”
That trait was a major reason why the Dolphins took Ballage in the fourth round of April’s draft despite already having Gore and Drake on the roster.
Casual sports fans might remember Ballage as the Arizona State running back who tied an NCAA record eight by scoring touchdowns against Texas Tech in 2016.
But the rest of his college career went largely under the radar. He rushed for more than 100 yards just four times in four years.
And before Sunday, he was used almost exclusively as the Dolphins’ Wildcat quarterback, seeing only a handful of snaps from scrimmage per game. He had four more carries Sunday than he did in the season’s first 14 weeks.
“I just wait,” Ballage said, when asked if he expected his role to grow as the season progressed. “I’m patient. I don’t think about those kind of things. Obviously, [we have] two great running backs — Kenyan Drake, Frank Gore. When my number is called, I try to just go out there and do the best that I can.”
Against the Vikings, he might not have been at his best, but he was darn close.
Ballage proved hard to bring down, gaining 95 yards after first contact, according to Pro Football Focus. He needs work in pass protection, however. He was responsible for one of the Dolphins’ team-record nine sacks allowed, and also gave up two pressures.
That will surely be a point of emphasis over the season’s final two weeks.
“I’m ready,” Ballage said of the opportunity wth Gore out. “Just stay ready. That’s how we do things around here. It’s next-man-up. Obviously, you don’t want to lose somebody like a Hall of Fame running back. Scrimmage yards, he can catch it, run. Frank can do everything. Moving forward, I’ll just be ready to step into whatever role they need me to be in.”
▪ The NFL has fined Dolphins linebacker Kiko Alsono $20,054 for a horse-collar tackle during Miami’s Week 14 win over the Patriots.
This story was originally published December 18, 2018 at 11:32 AM.
