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Dolphins coach Adam Gase spoke to the media on Wednesday for the first time since the Dolphins traded running back Jay Ajayi to the Eagles and offered a few explanations for why the team decided to make a move involving the running back at this point.

Gase said the team had conversations about where they wanted to go at running back down the road — Ajayi is signed through next season on his rookie deal — and has “some younger players there we felt we’re going to move forward with.” As a result, they thought it was “just time for us to move on” without their leading rusher.

Gase also addressed reports of locker room issues with Ajayi without denying they played a role in the call to make a move.

“We’ve had ups and downs but that’s with a lot of players,” Gase said, via the Miami Herald. “It’s a lot of players and getting on the same page and sharing the philosophy of how we want to do things. He tried to do what we were asking him to do a majority of the time … It was just time for us to go separate ways.”

Kenyan Drake, Damien Williams and Senorise Perry are now the backs in Miami and Gase said he likes “where we’re at right now” without delving into how the workload will be divvied up against the Raiders on Sunday night.