Dolphins sign OL Germain Ifedi with starter Austin Jackson out several weeks with an injury

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Dolphins starting offensive tackle Austin Jackson will miss several weeks with a leg injury after being stepped on at practice but is expected to return by Miami's season opener against the Indianapolis Colts on Sept. 7.

Coach Mike McDaniel said the injury isn't related to the knee injury that sidelined Jackson for the final eight games in 2024.

“He got the injury playing football," McDaniel said Sunday. “Got stepped on. Has nothing to do with anything but that. With Austin, the bottom line for me where he’s at — out of all the guys, I would say — he had some time off, he knocked some rust off, he got back and in my opinion exceeded where he was playing before, so we’re fortunate that timetable doesn’t seen to be into the regular season.”

With the injury, the Dolphins signed veteran offensive lineman Germain Ifedi on Sunday. Ifedi, who has played at guard and tackle, has 90 starts with Cleveland, Chicago and Seattle.

The team also waived quarterback Brett Gabbert and activated safety Ifeatu Melifonwu off the non-football injury list.

Melifonwu has missed the start of training camp, but will be a needed addition to the Dolphins secondary, which has had cornerback Kader Kohou (season-ending knee injury) and safety Ashtyn Davis (leg) go down in the first few weeks of practice.

In other injury news, Jaelan Phillips, who missed most of the past two seasons with separate Achilles tendon and ACL injuries, suffered a bruise to one of his legs during practice, but McDaniel said the linebacker is only expected to miss a couple of days as the swelling goes down.

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