The Miami Dolphins announced Tuesday they have suspended linebacker Lawrence Timmons indefinitely.
Timmons, who signed a two-year, $12 million deal with the Dolphins this offseason, was not with the team for its season-opening win over the Los Angeles Chargers. A team spokesman told NFL Network's Steve Wyche before the game that his absence was not team or football related. Timmons was with the Dolphins for practice in Southern California all week but did not travel with the team to the stadium.
Asked about the linebacker's absence after the contest, coach Adam Gase declined to comment, though he did say Timmons didn't play as a result of a coach's decision.
"I need to figure some things out before I talk about this," said Gase, via the Miami Herald's Armando Salguero.
NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported Tuesday on Up to the Minute that Timmons did provide the team a reason for not showing up.
"They did offer an excuse for his whereabouts and it's pretty clear that the Dolphins took their time to investigate everything and in the end determined that was not a good enough excuse," Garafolo said. "And that's why they suspended him."
Though the suspension was labeled as "indefinite" by the team, Garafolo reported the max suspension the Dolphins can levy against Timmons is four weeks, per the collective bargaining agreement.
Timmons, who was drafted in the first round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2007, recorded 35.5 sacks in his career and played and started in every Steelers' regular season game since 2010.
UPDATE: With Timmons out of the mix, the Dolphins acquired linebacker Stephone Anthony from the Saints for an undisclosed draft pick. Anthony was a first-round pick for New Orleans in the 2015 draft.
