Kenyan Drake injury: Running back wears walking boot at Dolphins practice with Buccaneers

The Miami Dolphins have a closer position battle at running back during this year’s training camp than anyone anticipated. While Kenyan Drake still took the early carries in the team’s Preseason Week 1 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, Kalen Ballage has seen plenty of playing time with the first-team offense in practices. That could be a sign that Miami wants to platoon the running backs, it could be a sign that they have different packages to feature each running back, or it could be a sign that the team wants to be prepared if an injury were to occur to Drake.

The last of those three could be the first to come to fruition. Drake left Tuesday’s joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with an obvious limp. “That happened early,” head coach Brian Flores said after Tuesday’s practice about Drake’s injury. “I got a quick note on that. I was just told he had to leave practice. We’ll find out a little bit more about it. Hopefully it’s not too serious. Hopefully he’s back out there tomorrow.”

On Wednesday, Drake was not back out there. He was spotted by multiple media personnel wearing a walking boot, which is never a good sign.

According to the Palm Beach Post’s Joe Schad, the injury is “not considered structural” despite the presence of the boot.

It seems unlikely Drake will be available for Friday’s game against the Buccaneers if he is wearing a boot on Wednesday. That will likely result in more carries for Ballage early in the contest. As long as the injury turns out to not be serious, with the Dolphins simply being cautious at this point, Drake should be ready for the regular season.