Mark Walton Receives Four-Game Ban

Hours after news of Preston Williams‘ ACL tear surfaced, the Dolphins will lose another key piece of their offense. Mark Walton received a four-game suspension for violations of the league’s substance-abuse policy.

Miami turned to Walton in recent weeks, and the former Cincinnati draft pick was set to play a big role following the Kenyan Drake trade. Walton was arrested three times in the span of three months earlier this year, and this suspension stems from those incidents, according to multiple reports. The Bengals drafted Walton in the fourth-round last year, but he played sparingly as a rookie. Cincinnati cut him back in April after his third and final arrest.

He quickly went back home, and the former University of Miami star signed with the Dolphins back in May. He steadily climbed the depth chart, and recently established himself as the team’s starter. The team was aware Walton was likely going to be suspended before they traded Drake so this isn’t a surprise to them, tweets Adam Beasley of The Miami Herald. The Dolphins issued a statement on Twitter from head coach Brian Flores, who said Walton has done everything they’ve asked of him and that he’ll be welcomed back to the team when his suspension is over.

As a result of the ban, Walton will forfeit $116K of his $495K rookie salary, according to a tweet from Spotrac. He had picked up at least 11 carries in each of the team’s past three games, and had 15 touches in their win over the Jets on Sunday. With Walton sidelined, it’ll be Kalen Ballage‘s time to shine. The 2018 fourth-round pick from Arizona State should slide into the starting role, and rookies Myles Gaskin and Patrick Laird will compete for snaps as well. Laird went undrafted out of Cal, while Gaskin was a seventh-round pick from Washington.