ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Miami Dolphins should have wide receiver Jaylen Waddle available for Thursday night’s game against the Buffalo Bills.
Four hours prior to the 8:15 p.m. kickoff at Highmark Stadium, NFL Network reported Waddle is expected to play through a shoulder injury in the AFC East rivalry game.
Waddle played through his shoulder injury against the New England Patriots in Sunday’s loss, but after being removed from the team’s injury report, he resurfaced after Tuesday’s practice as a limited participant due to the ailing shoulder. It’s a possible sign the injury was aggravated in the short week before the pivotal matchup with Miami entering 0-2.
The official inactive list will be released 90 minutes prior to kickoff.
Waddle is one of three Dolphins going into Thursday’s game questionable. The others are outside linebacker Chop Robinson with a banged-up knee and defensive tackle Benito Jones with an oblique injury.
Miami already ruled cornerback Storm Duck, safety Ifeatu Melifonwu and tight end Darren Waller out on Wednesday.
Practice squad elevations
The Dolphins elevated kicker Riley Patterson and safety Jordan Colbert from the practice squad to the game-day roster ahead of Thursday night’s 8:15 p.m. kickoff against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium.
Patterson has been elevated for all of the season’s first three games after the Dolphins signed him to the practice squad in the wake of starting kicker Jason Sanders’ preseason hip injury.
Patterson has made his two field goals and two extra-point chances in filling in for Sanders. He has also handled kickoffs.
“Really excited how Riley has done for us, stepping in some big shoes of what Jason has done,” Dolphins special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman said Tuesday. “I think Riley has done a really good job.”
Thursday night marked the third and final elevation the team can use on him. Meanwhile, Sanders must miss at least one more game to fulfill the minimum of four on injured reserve.
If the Dolphins want to keep bringing Patterson up to fill in for Sanders, they must sign him to the active roster. Otherwise, Miami can find another free agent kicker to sign to the practice squad with three elevations then available to the newcomer.
“I think we’ll end up talking to (general manager) Chris (Grier) and (coach) Mike (McDaniel) after this game and see what they want to do as far as his elevation, if we sign him,” Aukerman said. “That’ll be all in the dialogue with Chris and Mike later on after the game.”
Before the season, Grier noted the team would start off by using Patterson for the three elevations and then take it from there.
“We’ll flex him up for three games and then we’ll see how it goes to evaluate him before that,” Grier said Aug. 27.
Colbert is set to make his NFL debut if he sees playing time.
The previous two weeks, the Dolphins had elevated running back Jeff Wilson Jr. with Patterson, but with second-year tailback Jaylen Wright returning from a knee injury Thursday, Miami already enters action with three at the position.
This story will be updated.
