Safety Cory Gilliard is set to begin practicing with the team this week. The Ball State product has been on the physically unable to perform list since after training camp.
The team has a 21-day roster exemption to decide whether to put him on the 53-man roster. Gilliard spent time on the practice squads of Denver, New Orleans and Cincinnati before this season. He made his NFL debut with the Bengals in December of 1997.
New England signed Gilliard last February and allocated him to the Frankfurt Galaxy of the NFL Europe. He led the Galaxy with 47 tackles and had one interception.