The five worst moves by the Miami Dolphins in 2020
Not every move worked out for the Miami Dolphins in 2020.
The Miami Dolphins are playing for a playoff spot this weekend but not all of the moves they made helped the team get to this point.
Let me say up front that it was difficult trying to find five truly negative moves made by the Miami Dolphins this past year. That’s a testament to the job that general manager Chris Grier and his staff have done. I have been super critical of Grier in the past but this was by far his best season; under trying circumstances I must add.
With that said, not every gamble that Chris Grier took this season resulted in a win. The running back position, in particular, ‘vexed’ him for most of 2020. Without further ado, here are the five worst moves the Dolphins made in 2020.
5. Waiving RB Kalen Ballage
Kalen Ballage was drafted by Miami in the 4th round of the 2018 NFL Draft and had a nice rookie season in 2018. He averaged 5.3 yards-per-carry (YPC) on 36 rushes with one touchdown. As proven by Adam Gase’s coaching tenure, those are pretty impressive numbers for a running back in his system.
When Gase was fired and Brian Flores took over the reins of the franchise. It was ‘tough sledding’ for all the running backs behind a patchwork offensive line but Ballage in particular just seemed to have trouble. While other Dolphins’ backs (like Kenyan Drake, Mark Walton, and rookie Myles Gaskin) averaged over 3.5 YPC, Ballage’s average was a minuscule 1.8 YPC. He was released right before training camp this year by the Dolphins and spent three games with the New York Jets before finding a home with the L.A. Chargers.
Why was this a bad move?
From a production standpoint, it wasn’t a bad move. Ballage has only been active with the Chargers for six weeks and, in that time, has only carried the ball 10+ times on three occasions and is averaging 3.4 yards-per-carry.
Where the move backfired is that the Dolphins have seen their running back position decimated by injury/illness this season. It got so bad that the Dolphins swapped draft picks with the Kansas City Chiefs to acquire DeAndre Washington; who has been worse than Ballage in his limited touches with the Dolphins (28 carries, 86 yards, and a 3.1 YPC average). Plus, if you add Washington and Ballage’s salaries together, the Dolphins have sunk $994k into two players that aren’t performing on this team.
This isn’t a major issue, as both players come off the cap in 2021 but I told you it was tough finding five bad moves…..