Lot of crazy trade rumors and ideas floating around, and I'm here to tell you that most of them are total fiction. But maybe one of them actually has some kernel of validity to it, and fantasy coaches need to be ready. Like if the Dolphins actually dump Kenyan Drake and put their ground game in the hands of Kalen Ballage.
Miami is basically looking to get rid of virtually every veteran on the team, if any of the rumors can be believed (and maybe they can't be). Which is part of why the notion of them bringing Jadeveon Clowney into this wasteland to pay him franchise tag money and potentially lose him next March makes no sense. But whatever. What is clear is that it's possible Drake won't be on the team this season, and they'll send out Ballage as their lead running back. Should fantasy coaches be excited?
On behalf of Ballage, Miami has no other running backs of note. Seventh-rounder Myles Gaskin hasn't shown anything. Former Bengal Mark Walton, I'm honestly not even sure why they picked him up, although he is a Miami native and went to college there, so maybe that's why. They like him for some reason, even though he's average a comical 1.4 yards per carry in the preseason: 17 carries, 23 yards.
Ballage averaged 5.3 yards per carry as a rookie, which sounds great until you note that 75 of his yards came on one breakaway run in a late-season blowout loss at Minnesota. Set aside that run (yes, I realize, it counts too) and Ballage last year carried 35 times for 116 yards -- that's 3.3 yards per carry. Yeah, let's ship Drake and his career 4.7 yards per carry off the roster for a pass rusher who doesn't want to play for us and can leave for nothing a year from now!
The big problem with Ballage, though, is that Miami isn't fielding anything close to an NFL-caliber offensive line. In the preseason -- and I realize these games don't count -- Miami has averaged just 3.4 yards per carry. It's not the worst among the league's team, but a lot of the ones who are worse either also have terrible lines (Cincinnati) or hold all their starting linemen and running backs out of the preseason anyway (Rams).
| PRESEASON TEAM RUSHING | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Att | Yds | Avg | TD |
| Minnesota Vikings | 95 | 537 | 5.7 | 4 |
| Kansas City | 60 | 287 | 4.8 | 3 |
| L.A. Chargers | 75 | 356 | 4.7 | 3 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 89 | 397 | 4.5 | 4 |
| Houston Texans | 89 | 391 | 4.4 | 3 |
| New Orleans Saints | 87 | 384 | 4.4 | 0 |
| Buffalo Bills | 95 | 403 | 4.2 | 5 |
| Detroit Lions | 64 | 267 | 4.2 | 2 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 81 | 343 | 4.2 | 1 |
| Seattle Seahawks | 99 | 412 | 4.2 | 4 |
| Arizona Cardinals | 66 | 268 | 4.1 | 1 |
| Carolina Panthers | 62 | 250 | 4.0 | 1 |
| Denver Broncos | 96 | 372 | 3.9 | 2 |
| Tennessee Titans | 83 | 326 | 3.9 | 0 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 113 | 429 | 3.8 | 5 |
| Indianapolis Colts | 76 | 284 | 3.7 | 2 |
| Baltimore Ravens | 93 | 336 | 3.6 | 2 |
| Chicago Bears | 60 | 217 | 3.6 | 2 |
| Dallas Cowboys | 72 | 262 | 3.6 | 2 |
| New England Patriots | 108 | 385 | 3.6 | 4 |
| Oakland Raiders | 96 | 347 | 3.6 | 2 |
| Cleveland Browns | 53 | 187 | 3.5 | 0 |
| N.Y. Jets | 77 | 260 | 3.4 | 1 |
| Washington | 73 | 249 | 3.4 | 1 |
| Miami Dolphins | 90 | 303 | 3.4 | 4 |
| N.Y. Giants | 79 | 257 | 3.3 | 3 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 67 | 223 | 3.3 | 2 |
| Green Bay Packers | 76 | 244 | 3.2 | 1 |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | 62 | 194 | 3.1 | 1 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 75 | 234 | 3.1 | 2 |
| L.A. Rams | 76 | 217 | 2.9 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 52 | 142 | 2.7 | 1 |
Ballage himself has been even worse than the team average in the preseason, carrying 18 times for 40 yards (2.2 yards per carry). Hey: he's better than Walton. But he's shown nothing to make it look like he's ready to do any more than pound into the worst offensive line in the league as one of the league's worst-producing running backs. And that's assuming Drake is cut, traded, or otherwise off the roster.
Just say no to Dolphins running backs.
--Andy Richardson