Miami Dolphins cut Kalen Ballage, claim Salvon Ahmed off waivers

The Kalen Ballage experiment is over for the Miami Dolphins, with the team cutting the running back on Wednesday.

The Miami Dolphins had arguably the worst running game in the entire NFL during the 2019 season and have already looked to make serious upgrades with the free-agent signing of Jordan Howard and draft-day trade for Matt Breida, now they have moved on from Kalen Ballage.

These two players are expected to be the Dolphins’ one-two punch in the backfield, leaving very few reps available for depth players, especially those that have not shown they can live up to expectations over the past two seasons in the league.

Kalen Ballage entered the league as a fourth-round selection of the Dolphins during the 2018 NFL Draft and has been a depth piece over the proceeding two seasons.

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In 24 regular-season games, of which the Peyton, Colorado native started just six, Ballage rushed for 326 yards and four touchdowns along the ground. He also caught 23 passes for 119 yards.

What is disappointing about Ballage is the fact that he was given more opportunities to play in his second professional season, where all of his starts came, but he was unable to really get going and rushed for fewer yards than his rookie campaign.

37-year-old quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick led the team with rushing yards last season, demonstrating just how poor the running game was in 2019 and it’s unsurprising that the team have opted to part ways with a player that played a key role on that poor unit.

The 24-year-old will now hope to find an opportunity at another team’s training camp, where he’ll try to stake a claim to being included on a 53-man roster by the time the first week of the season roles around.

Meanwhile, the Dolphins have moved to fill the gap left by Ballage’s cut by claiming undrafted rookie Salvon Ahmed off waivers, having been cut by the San Francisco 49ers.

Ahmed, who stacks up at 5-foot-11, 197lbs, played for the PAC-12’s Washington Huskies during college and earned 1020 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns during his junior season before deciding to enter the NFL Draft.

While he isn’t likely to make much of an impact in the short time before the start of the new season, the Miami Dolphins clearly see something in him that they like and may be interested in having him around as a depth option, or even as a practice squad candidate.

Time is limited before Week One of the regular season rolls around and the Dolphins’ roster is starting to shape, with many more moves likely to come over the next few days or weeks, especially with some injuries and opt-outs impacting the personnel available to coach Brian Flores