Lawrence Timmons reinstated from indefinite suspension issued by Dolphins after he went AWOL

The Miami Dolphins suspended Lawrence Timmons indefinitely after missing the team’s season opener against the Chargers. The team reinstated Timmons on Tuesday, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.

The Dolphins filed a missing persons report with police in Los Angeles this past weekend for Timmons, per TMZ. Timmons was reportedly not in his hotel room the night before the game at bed check, before being found by police at LAX.

The indefinite suspension perhaps shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. Head coach Adam Gase declined to comment on the situation on Monday. But when asked about his tolerance for a violation of those rules, he said via ESPN, “What do you think?” he said. “I’ve got two rules. It’s not hard.”

While the suspension is indefinite, the most games he could be suspended for is four:

What does this mean for the Dolphins? Since Timmons will be out indefinitely, that opens up an immediate spot at linebacker. Mike Hull is the next man up for the Dolphins, and played this past Sunday’s game against the Chargers.

Hull was an undrafted free agent in 2015, and spent the majority of his first season in the NFL on the Dolphins’ practice squad. In 2016, he played in all 16 games while making just one start.

Rookie linebacker Raekwon McMillan would be handy for the Dolphins right about now, but he tore his ACL in the preseason, effectively putting his NFL career on pause has he misses the season.

What does this mean for Timmons? It’s not a great look for Timmons. The entire situation is odd, but Timmons claims he was dealing with a personal matter. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Monday that Timmons was hoping to practice this week, but somewhere, things changed.

He met with team doctors on Monday to try to figure out what was wrong, but Schefter reported that Timmons is “doing much better.” However, a source told Schefter, “No one has ever seen anything like it,” with regards to Timmons’ situation.

Timmons spent the first 10 years of his career with the Steelers, and joined the Dolphins in March.