Consider it one last miscue for the Kalen Ballage era in Miami. The Miami Dolphins have been trying to part ways with third year running back Kalen Ballage for the better part of a week now — at first planning on cutting him before a last minute deal materialized with the New York Jets to reunite Ballage with his former head coach Adam Gase.
But the news has come through that there will be no deal with the Jets to send Ballage north for a conditional 7th-round NFL Draft selection. Why? Because the running back failed his physical with the Jets due to a hamstring issue that Ballage reportedly suffered earlier in training camp.
More intrigue for former #Dolphins RB Kalen Ballage, who was to be traded to the #Jets: Source said he failed his physical with #NYJ because of a hamstring injury. So Ballage reverts back to MIA, who likely releases him. He could end up back with the #Jets when healed.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 30, 2020
It’s a perfect symbolism of the Ballage era with the Dolphins — his play on the field was been frustratingly poor and marred by repeated mistakes in the form of drops, fumbles and misreads at the line of scrimmage. And now, a fumbled trade that is likely to result in Ballage’s outright release given the Dolphins’ intentions of moving on. We’ve clearly reached the point of no return for Ballage to play in Miami moving forward, so expect a transaction in little to no time at all that formally marks the end of Ballage’s run with the team after two seasons.
From there, the running back will be free to sign where ever he likes. But Miami won’t be sad to see him go — the fact that they were willing to trade him to a divisional rival just to be done with him is all the evidence you need on that front.