Dolphins rookie LB Trey Moore to undergo ankle surgery, hope remains for return this season

Dolphins rookie linebacker Trey Moore will have surgery on the ankle he injured in Saturday's preseason game, coach Jeff Hafley confirmed Tuesday.

The timeline is longer than the initial thought on the injury. When Moore went down against the Buccaneers over the weekend, Hafley said only that the rookie would "miss some time" and that he didn't see him being back soon. On Tuesday that changed to a longer timeline but the team is hopeful Moore returns at some point this season, though as Hafley put it, "it'll be a while."

Moore had been one of the quieter stories of Miami's camp — a fourth-round pick earning notice as a versatile piece of Hafley's defense, lining up in multiple spots and flashing enough for the coaching staff to plan around him. The surgery takes him out of the final evaluation window before cutdowns, but the fact that Miami is publicly holding out hope for a mid-season return suggests the rookie's role in the 2026 picture is not going anywhere.