Dolphins cut Ballage, add another running back and prepare to sign defensive end
Running back Kalen Ballage, who in 2019 produced the NFL’s lowest per carry average in 70 years, won’t get a third year with the Dolphins.
He was informed on Wednesday that he has been released, according to two league sources.
With Ballage jettisoned and Patrick Laird dealing with a mild shoulder injury, the Dolphins on Wednesday looked outside the building for reinforcements.
Whom they found: Rookie Salvon Ahmed, claimed off waivers after the San Francisco 49ers cut him the day before.
Ahmed went undrafted out of Washington after earning third-team All-Pac 12 honors as a junior in 2019, rushing 1,020 yards (with 5.4 yards-per-carry average) and 11 touchdowns. He will compete for the Dolphins’ fourth running back job, assuming they keep that many.
“Salvon Ahmed is a low end NFL RB who has the redirection ability to make some big plays happen in space — but he’s currently not reliable in his ability to process and key the point of attack,” The Draft Network’s Kyle Crabbs wrote before the draft. “Too may of his runs are derailed by his own attempts to work to daylight and he needs to develop more trust and urgency to press through gaps. Ahmed’s athleticism is passable for the pro game but he lacks the long speed and home run hitting skills he seems to think he has with running style.”
In Miami, he’s reunited with fellow UW teammate Myles Gaskin. In 2018, Ahmed and Gaskin combined for nearly 2,000 yards and 19 touchdowns for the 10-win Huskies.
Ballage averaged just 1.8 yards per carry last season, lowest in 70 years for an NFL player with at least 70 carries. He also dropped four of the 18 passes thrown to him.
Selected in the fourth round out of Arizona State in 2018, Ballage finished his Dolphins career with 110 carries for 326 yards (a 3.0 average) and four touchdowns, including 24 games and six starts. His departure leaves Miami with only four players from their 2018 draft class: Mike Gesicki, Jerome Baker, Durham Smythe and Jason Sanders.
The running backs remaining on the Dolphins roster: Jordan Howard, Matt Brieda, Laird, Gaskin, Ahmed and fullback Chandler Cox. Gaskin has been impressive during training camp, according to coaches.
Former Navy quarterback Malcolm Perry, the team’s seventh-round draft choice, is listed as a running back on the team’s official roster but is being moved around, used in multiple roles.
Meanwhile, the Dolphins also brought three defensive ends to team headquarters Wednesday: veteran Avery Moss and undrafted rookies Trevon Hill (from UM) and Tim Bonner (FAU).
According to a team source, Moss is expected to be re-signed by the Dolphins, pending a physical. He had 25 tackles in 11 games for Miami last season, including eight starts, but was waived by the Dolphins on July 26, two days before camp started.
Hill took a COVID-19 test for the Dolphins on Wednesday and will work out for the team on Thursday. A transfer from Virginia Tech, Hill played his senior year at UM and had 27 tackles and 4.5 sacks for the Hurricanes. He spoke with the New England Patriots after going undrafted in April but didn’t sign with any team.
Bonner was dismissed from Louisville’s football team as a freshman after a female student accused him of having a gun. He transferred to East Mississippi Community College and eventually to FAU, where he had 58 tackles and eight sacks in three seasons. He did not sign with a team after this past April’s draft. During his time at East Mississippi JC, Bonner appeared on the Netflix docu-series “Last Chance U.”
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 5:36 PM.
