The mystery of Dolphins linebacker Lawrence Timmons continues to deepen not resolve.
Despite reports suggesting that Timmons will return to the Dolphins and, presumably, everything will continue as if nothing happened, the Dolphins have made no decisions about what to do with Timmons, who signed a two-year, $12 million deal with a $5.5 million signing bonus earlier this year and a whopping $11 million fully guaranteed at signing.
It would be unwise to cut Timmons over the incident, given the sizable guarantee. They could, at most, suspend him four games without pay for conduct detrimental to the team, which would wipe out all future guarantees and permit recovery of a portion of the signing bonus. They then could cut him, if that’s what the organization decides to do.
Coach Adam Gase addressed the situation with reporters on Monday, but didn’t really provide any new information.
“I have nothing to add for what I have right now,” Gase said. “Really just gathering a lot of information.”
Gase added that he hasn’t spoken to Timmons, and that he has “no idea” whether Timmons was even in the building. It became clear through Gase’s comments that he’s far more concerned about the players who capped a trying 10 days of hurricane-related delays and relocations and turmoil by fighting for a win, and that in turn he doesn’t have much sympathy for guys who failed to participate.
“Be on time and play hard,” Gase said regarding his rules. “I don’t know if that’s real hard.”
Asked about his tolerance level for violations of those principles, Gase said, “What do you think? I got two rules. It’s not that hard.”
It sounds like it will be hard for Timmons to get back in the good graces of the team and, more specifically, his coach.