FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots figured out a way to make it even more difficult to take attendance at organized team activities.
The Patriots usually forego wearing jerseys with numbers, instead wearing T-shirts. But this year, they’ve even removed the digits from the back of their helmets and shorts.
Here’s an incomplete list of players missing Friday outside Gillette Stadium from the first OTA session open to the media: wide receivers Matthew Slater and Brandon LaFell, cornerback Malcolm Butler, safety Jordan Richards, linebackers Jamie Collins, Jerod Mayo and Dont’a Hightower, offensive linemen Ryan Wendell and Sebastian Vollmer, tight end A.J. Derby and defensive linemen Chris Jones, Chandler Jones, Sealver Siliga and Alan Branch.
Hightower had shoulder surgery over the offseason, and Mayo still might be limited with the knee injury that ended his 2014 season. Richards is being held out of the offseason workout program because he has yet to graduate from Stanford.
It’s unclear why the rest of the Patriots were absent Friday.
Thumbnail photo via Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports Images
