Gase dreads making roster cuts, but they are due

ATLANTA — If the NFL wanted to permanently increase the roster size to 90, Dolphins coach Adam Gase would vote in favor of it.

Now that the preseason is over, each team is faced with cutting up to 37 players to get down to the limit. That means nearly 1,200 players will be out of a job (some might land on practice squads) by the time everything settles after today’s 4 p.m. deadline and the ensuing waiver process.

Most players the Dolphins will let go have been with the team at least three months. Miami began signing players to futures contracts in January, then picked up more throughout free agency and the draft.

“This is the worst part because you’ve been together since April,” Gase said after Thursday’s 34-7 win at Atlanta. “We’re not a team that really changes out a lot of guys. We try to give everybody training camp and our preseason games to prove themselves one way or another. Now it’s the least fun part of the job.”

Some in question have been around years, not months. Cornerback Tony Lippett (a fifth-round pick in 2015), receiver Isaiah Ford and quarterback David Fales were with the team last season.

Ford is a 2017 seventh-round pick who spent his rookie year on injured reserve, then came back with an impressive training camp to put himself in great position to make the roster. In addition to how good he looked in practice, he had seven catches for 70 yards and a touchdown in four games.

“Good production tonight,” Gase said. “He had some good catches. Did a good job of making guys miss, so we’ll kind of see how that shakes out. We haven’t spent too much time worrying about that. We’ll get together when we’ve had a couple days and go over it.”

Ford seems to have done enough to make the team, especially compared to Leonte Carroo, but there’s no certainty for him. He’s a player Gase would love to keep — if he can.

“I think there’s a lot of guys in that category,” Gase said. “That’s why it’s a hard part of the job.”

Rookie RB: “My time will come”: Kalen Ballage averaged 6 yards per carry, scored a touchdown, had three catches and left Thursday night’s Dolphins victory with a ton of confidence.

But he’s a rookie. And he’s got Kenyan Drake and Frank Gore ahead of him on the running back depth chart. But Ballage is far from worried.

“My time will come,” Ballage said in the locker room late Thursday night. “I truly believe that. I feel God is going to put me in a position to make plays. If I get the chance, I want to do the best I can.”

Ballage returned from a concussion that kept him out of recent practices with an impressive flurry of touches.

On one play, Ballage showed impressive burst for a man 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, taking a handoff around the left corner for a gain of 12.

“Really it’s nothing I even think about,” Ballage said. “I’ve been playing football since I was 9 or 10 years old. I see a lane. I see an opportunity. And I just go.”

Ballage looks like a strong fourth-round rookie. Miami used a selection obtained from Philadelphia for Jay Ajayi on Ballage and he has all the physical tools to succeed.

“I was excited,” Gase said of Ballage. “A couple of us were talking on the sideline before the game and tried to gauge where he was at and he looked very focused. And I think you can tell from that first play of the game he could’ve easily stepped out of bounds, (but) he leaned back in and he had good contact there and got going a little bit. That was good to see. I think he came out here with a purpose.”

Ballage said he actually had “jitters” at the start of the game. But with Drake and Gore resting in the final preseason game, he took advantage.

“In my mind, there is always more,” Ballage said. “I feel like I can do more. There is more that I want to do. So I’m just going to continue to grow. Continue to learn the playbook and get better.”

Earlier in training camp, quarterback Ryan Tannehill tossed Ballage from a huddle for a missed blocking assignment. But Ballage took it as a learning experience.

“I think my football knowledge in general has grown a lot,” he said. “Just learning the little details. The ins and outs of the game that I may not have known before. I think that’s allowed me to really grow, physically as well.”

Ballage said a few veterans encouraged him during and after the game.

“A lot of the guys were proud of me knowing what I was doing,” Ballage said. “Staying engaged, making plays... I just want to be somebody that’s trusted with the ball in my hands.”