Rewind a year. Jay Ajayi had seen enough. The London-born running back had been a large reason why the Miami Dolphins had reached the NFL play-offs for the first time since 2008.
Yet the chance of lifting the Vince Lombardi Trophy had been short-lived. The Dolphins had been eliminated at the first hurdle, after a Wild Card shellacking in Pittsburgh – the bookend to a tough season which began with the then 23-year-old being left behind in Miami for the team’s Week 1 trip to Seattle, amid rumours of a bad attitude and friction between himself and head coach Adam Gase.