With early arrival players having gotten back to work in Foxborough – including those recovering from prior injuries – the Patriots placed nine total players on either the active physically unable to perform or active non-football injury lists on Monday, according to the NFL transaction wire.
Veteran backup quarterback Matt Flynn was the lone player placed on NFI.
The eight players placed on PUP – which can be a precursor to regular season PUP but from which a player can be activated at any time throughout the summer – included second-year defensive tackle Dominique Easley, linebacker Dane Fletcher, defensive lineman Chris Jones, wide receiver Brandon LaFell, wide receiver Matthew Slater, undrafted rookie defensive lineman Vince Taylor, guard Ryan Wendell and linebacker Chris White.
Many of the PUP players missed time this spring to injury or following offseason surgical procedures. Easley finished last season on IR with a knee injury. LaFell spent the offseason in a walking boot following a late-season foot injury. Wendell missed spring after a reported shoulder procedure.
Players on PUP are not deemed ready to perform, meaning they may not have passed a physical or could potentially have failed the team's conditioning run that all players must pass before being cleared for practice in New England.
Noticeably absent from the list of PUP names at this point are such key veterans recovering from injury as Jerod Mayo (patella tendon), Chandler Jones, Dont'a Hightower (shoulder).
The Patriots will hold their first full practice of training camp on Thursday morning on the fields behind Gillette Stadium.
