Nate Ebner and Ken Webster return to Patriots practice; activated off the PUP list

The New England Patriots returned to the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium earlier today to kick off their final week of work open to the public — and the observers in the stands for today’s session were able to also get a glimpse of two players returning to practice off the physically unable to perform list: core special teamer/part time Olympian Nate Ebner returned today, as did rookie cornerback Ken Webster.

Ebner and Webster were two of six players to open training camp on PUP, and they are now the third and fourth to come off after defensive edge Deatrich Wise Jr. and running back Sony Michel (a fifth player, offensive tackle Cole Croston, was released). While no further details were reported about either player’s injury, it appears as if they were no long-term issues that could potentially have cost them regular season playing time.

As a result of Ebner’s and Webster’s activations, only four players remain on an injury-related reserve list at this point in time:

WR Julian Edelman (NFI)

WR Cameron Meredith (PUP)

WR Demaryius Thomas (PUP)

OT Yodny Cajuste (NFI)

Players can be activated off PUP and NFI at any time and are then no longer allowed to rejoin the list. However, they could also remain on PUP until roster cutdowns: at that point, they would be moved from the current active/PUP list to reserve/PUP and would have to sit out at least the first six regular season contests.